Pretty Boy
by AmberStarry
Summary: Kaoru wakes up one morning to find he has turned into a girl. At first he is clueless in the ways of the female, and attempts to hide his secret from the other hosts. But as we all know, nothing stays secret in the host club for long; as time goes on...
1. The Disturbing Discovery

**Hey Guys, I'm back! This is my second chapter fic, and I'm excited about it. The starring characters are once again Hikaru and Kaoru. I think we're in for fun time with this one haha, hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Warning: **This is a Genderbender (i.e there is a character that changes sexes in it).

**Synopsis/Description: **_Kaoru wakes up one morning to find he has turned into a girl. At first he is clueless in the ways of the female, and attempts to hide his secret from the other hosts. But as we all know, nothing stays secret in the host club for long; as time goes on and he gets accustomed to his new gender, he makes a startling discovery – he just might feel more comfortable being a girl than he ever did being a boy._

**Pretty Boy  
(Now Available in both Genders)**  
**  
****Chapter 1**** - The Disturbing Discovery  
**

Kaoru cracked his eyes open and groaned. The sun streaming through the bedroom windows signified the start of another day, another day that Kaoru wished he could just skip so he could stay in his nice warm bed. He was more sensible than that though; so begrudgingly he forced himself to sit up, throw the covers to the side and jump out of bed to head to the bathroom. Kaoru didn't think about much when he went about his morning routine, only that he would have to wake Hikaru up yet again because he was always still fast asleep even after Kaoru had gotten himself washed, dressed and fed. Personally, the younger twin thought it was remarkable that his brother could stay asleep when he was thumping around, going about getting ready for school right next to him. It was just one of those legit unexplainable mysteries.

Making his way into the bathroom and walking up to the toilet, Kaoru yawned yet again and stretched before grabbing the waistband of his pants and sliding them down. His eyes widened to the size of saucepans when he went to grab his manhood but his hands clasped around thin-air. Looking down, his jaw dropped when he saw to his horror that there was no longer a penis hanging there, but a smooth, totally flat patch of skin where it used to be. A tuft of auburn pubic hair was still present, but that was it. His mind almost shut down then and there. His _penis_ was _gone_. What had happened last night? Had some twisted wizard broken into his and Hikaru's bedroom and cast a spell on him while he was sleeping? Had somebody drugged him and performed a sex change operation on him while he was unconscious? Was this someone's idea of a sick joke? He couldn't decide if he was more freaked about loosing his penis or the thought of people doing strange things to him while he was unawares. Either way, he no longer had a primary male appendage. It had just disappeared, his little man had gone walkabout without so much as a goodbye! And what's more, it had been replaced with a desolate patch nothing; or had it? Kaoru decided he had to investigate; he had to know if there was _anything_ there at all. Moving the hand that had frozen after not finding what it was supposed to, he reached down and felt around in between his legs. He discovered what distinctly felt like two flaps of skin, in between which was warm and wet. There seemed to be a little lump of flesh in between the flaps as well. Wait a minute – _flaps_? _Warm and wet_? _Lump of flesh_? Oh my kami-sama, he had a vagina. He had a real, female vagina. Complete with labia and a clitoris. And oh my god, he knew the technical names for them – damn you compulsory sex education classes! He shouldn't be able to name lady parts! This was _not normal_. Penises did not just disappear to get replaced with vaginas. If he didn't know any better, it was like he was in one of those bad genderbender fanfictions. It was all he could do to let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Hikaru startled awake as the shriek rang throughout the room and probably the rest of the mansion from his and Kaoru's en suite bathroom. He could tell it was Kaoru from the pitch of it. Hikaru had said it before and he would say it again, no guy should have such a high-pitched scream; Kaoru sounded more like a girl than girls did. The younger twin didn't usually scream in the mornings though, so Hikaru was automatically concerned. Jumping out of bed, he raced across the room and into the open doorway of the bathroom, only to halt in his tracks when he saw his brother standing stock-still in front of the toilet with his pants around his shins.

"Uh, what's wrong Kaoru?" Hikaru asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. This situation was just _slightly_ uncomfortable.

Kaoru turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Hikaru, and whispered something incoherent. Hikaru stuck a finger in his ear to make sure there was nothing clogging his ear canal before responding, "Sorry Kao, I didn't catch that."

This time Kaoru spoke loud enough for Hikaru to hear, "I HAVE A VAGINA!" he yelped in his high-pitched voice yet again.

Hikaru couldn't help but think that with a voice that could go up to that octave, he wouldn't be surprised if Kaoru had a vagina. "I'm not sure I follow," He stated bluntly. If Kaoru was trying to play a practical joke on him he wasn't doing a very good job, in fact he was doing a really bad job. It wasn't convincing in the least.

Kaoru scowled and threw his arms up in the air, "WHAT'S THERE TO FOLLOW? I JUST TOLD YOU _I_ HAVE A_ VAGINA_!"

Hikaru smirked, "You really expect me to believe that? Come on Kaoru, Haruhi could do a better job of lying than this!"

Kaoru huffed, "I'M NOT LYING!" It seemed there was only one way to prove to his brother that he was telling the truth. So without further ado, he turned around so that he was visible to his twin and fixed him with an irritated glare.

As Kaoru turned around, Hikaru's eyes were immediately drawn to his brother's, or should he now say _sister's_ crotch. Where there should have been a penis and a set of testicles, there was now a flat patch of skin with nothing but some pubic hair to cover it. Hikaru peeled his eyes away from his brother's pubic area and refocused them on Kaoru's annoyed face, "Uh, Kaoru," He started disbelievingly, "You have a vagina."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "Really? I hadn't noticed." He bit back sarcastically.

"How did it happen?" Hikaru asked, very weirded out by the whole thing.

Kaoru ran a hand through his hair anxiously, "I don't know. I just woke up and went to go to the toilet, and discovered this!" He indicated to his new genitalia.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, then, "Wait a minute!" Hikaru's eyes suddenly widened and he quickly pulled back the waistband of his own pyjama pants to check himself. He felt a wave of relief wash over him when he spotted his little man still there and perfectly intact. Letting his waistband snap back into place, he looked back up at Kaoru, "Thank kami-sama, I still have a penis."

"Good for you," Kaoru shot back deadpan, "But what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Hikaru lifted a hand to his chin in thought and then stepped forward. Reaching his hands out he started to feel Kaoru's chest. Kaoru's eyes shot open as his brother's hands wondered over his torso, which was thankfully covered by his pyjama shirt. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He yelped, trying to swat Hikaru's hands away.

"I'm checking to see if you have breasts as well," Hikaru explained, pulling his hands away from his brothers flailing arms, "You do by the way, but they're very small. My suggestion is you just do what Haruhi's been doing; keep wearing the boys uniform and nobody will know the difference. Well, except you and me."

Kaoru lifted a hand to his chest to feel two lumps that were slightly softer and larger than his chest should have been. Hikaru was telling the truth; he indeed had a set of small breasts to go with his vagina. This was too surreal. "I HAVE BOOBS TOO?" He yelped, "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?"

Hikaru's jaw dropped. Kaoru never swore, _ever_. In fact, he was pretty sure the worst word Kaoru had ever used was 'shit'. Hearing him openly cuss like this meant that he was really freaking out. Then again, Hikaru had to admit that if he woke up with a vagina he wouldn't be calm about it either. Poor Kaoru. "Don't worry Kao, everything will be okay," Hikaru soothed, trying to calm his brother down.

"How am I supposed to calm down? I HAVE BOOBS ANDA VAGINA!" Kaoru roared, tugging at his hair in hysteria.

"THEY CAN BE HIDDEN!" Hikaru yelled back, restating his earlier suggestion, "you can keep wearing the boys uniform until we figure out what to do. Ninety- nine per cent of the people at our school are retards, they haven't even _suspected_Haruhi of being a girl yet. You'll be fine if you just calm down and don't scream it out so the whole world can hear!"

Kaoru let go of his hair and nodded, "You're right, you're right," He looked up at Hikaru seriously, "You can't tell anybody about this, alright?"

Hikaru placed his hand over his heart, "I promise I will not tell a soul."

The younger twin looked down and groaned, "I just realized, I don't have a crop-top or a bra or anything…"

"We'll go and find one of mum's, her boobs aren't that big. I'm sure we'll find one that will fit you well enough for now until we can go out and buy you one that fits you properly," Hikaru said.

Kaoru nodded. "How have you been so calm about this?" He suddenly asked Hikaru, cocking his head to the side in incredulity.

Hikaru shrugged, "You've always kind of been a bit of a girl," he laughed, "Plus, I'm not the one with the vagina,"

Kaoru growled and clenched his fists, "I am _not _a girl!"

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest and shot Kaoru a smug smile, "You have a vagina and breasts. You're a girl."

Kaoru shook his head, "If I'm a girl, then why is the authoress still referring to me as a _he_?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

Kaoru slapped hand to her forehead, "The autho- you know what, never mind. I guess I'm officially a _she_ now then."

Hikaru nodded, "We should start getting ready for school, or we're going to be late."

"First we have to sneak into mum's wardrobe to find a crop top or something. Oh yeah, you're coming with me." Kaoru smirked when she saw her brother cringe.

"Aww, really?" Hikaru whined, "How are we supposed to explain it to mum if we get caught?"

Kaoru shrugged, "We'll figure it out when it comes to that."

Hikaru rolled his eyes and turned to walk out of the bathroom. It was then that Kaoru finally realized she still had her pants down, and quickly pulled them back up again with a blush. Both twins walked out of the bathroom together, through their bedroom and into the hall. Looking left and right, they decided the coast was clear and turned left to head to their mothers room. She had an entire room dedicated to her wardrobe, but what else would you expect from a fashion designer?

"She must keep her bra's in one of the drawers of her tallboys or something," Hikaru muttered as they came to the door of their mother's 'wardrobe room'.

Kaoru nodded once, "If they're not in there then we'll just have to search until we find them."

The twins opened the door and instantly pressed their backs to the walls beside it; they listened for a while to make sure their mother wasn't inside, before carefully peeling themselves away from the walls and walking in. Every corner of the room was filled with chests of drawers, clothes racks, accessory tables, shelves of shoe racks and display cases for jewellery. The twins went straight to the chests of drawers and began opening them to see what they contained. The last time they had been in there was when they were six and had been playing dress-up with their mum's clothes. Needless to say, they could no longer remember where anything was.

"Kami-sama, mum has a lot of crap…" Hikaru muttered as he and Kaoru searched through drawers.

Kaoru whacked Hikaru over the head, "It's not crap! Do you have any idea how much it takes to look as good as she does? She doesn't just wake up like that you know."

Hikaru rubbed the back of his head as he closed a drawer. "Do _you_ have any idea how much you sound like a girl right now?" he retorted, earning himself another whack upside the head.

"I thought we had already established this," Kaoru ground out, "I _am _a girl!"

"A few minutes ago you were pretty certain you _weren't_," Hikaru mumbled.

Kaoru growled and ripped open another drawer, "You're so lucky I love you,"

Hikaru smiled and ruffled Kaoru's hair as she rummaged through the drawer, "I know I am."

"I found them!" Kaoru suddenly grinned, pulling out a pile of bras, "What size do you think I am?"

"You're definitely not any bigger than a B-cup, if you're even that. So we're looking for something small," Hikaru elucidated, picking up a pink bra and shaking his head. "Way too big,"

Kaoru picked up a black bra, "How about this one, it looks okay,"

Hikaru looked up and almost had a nosebleed; the bra Kaoru was holding up was adorned with frills, and lace, and was almost transparent. "Too frilly," He managed to grind out before he turned away.

Kaoru frowned and replaced the bra before picking up a plain white crop top. Finding the tag, she looked at the size to find it was an A cup. "What about this, it's plain and practical," she commented holding it up to Hikaru.

Hikaru turned and nodded, "That's good enough for now. We really have to get dressed, you're usually ready by now and waking me up! Plus, I'm starting feel like a pervert going through mums lingerie."

Kaoru rolled her eyes and nodded. Picking up the other bras that Hikaru had carelessly tossed onto the floor in their search, she put them back in the drawer, making sure to keep the one she had chosen, and beckoned Hikaru to follow her back to their room. When they got there, they went to their own wardrobe and pulled out their uniforms. Hikaru walked over to his bed and began to strip, Kaoru followed suite and walked over to her bed to do the same, however, as she was unbuttoning her pyjama shirt Hikaru's voice interrupted her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking at her strangely.

Kaoru blinked and glanced to the sides before fixing her gaze back on her brother, "I'm changing," she stated, confused at Hikaru's question.

"You can't change in here! Go into the bathroom," Hikaru instructed.

Kaoru frowned and put her hands on her hips, "Why can't I change here? I do it every day!"

Hikaru sighed, "You were a boy then, it's different. We both had the same parts so we had seen it all before, and it didn't matter; but now you're a girl, it's inappropriate."

Oh, so that was it. Kaoru's face fell, and she nodded in understanding, "I see. I guess you're right, although _I_ don't really care. But if you insist," turning around she picked up her uniform off the bed and went into the bathroom to change. Hikaru watched after her solemnly before turning back to his own task of getting dressed.

It was only the beginning of Kaoru's conundrum but both twins could feel the sting of change. They always did everything together, even changing. It was a tribute to the strength of their relationship that they felt so comfortable around each other, and now that comfort had been quashed. It appeared that it was only a matter of time before they would find that they had to alter other things in their routine to accommodate for Kaoru's problem. For instance, what would happen when they had to change into costumes at the Host Club? Hikaru and Kaoru had always gone into the change rooms together, but now that would have to change. And when they had to go to the toilet, Kaoru wouldn't be able to go into the boy's room anymore. And what about when they went to the beach? Kaoru would have to wear a hoodie like Haruhi! This was wrong, so wrong. Hikaru and Kaoru were supposed to be identical; and while they still looked the same, they now had a major difference. Additionally, Kaoru had no idea how long this would last, or if it would ever change at all.

After Kaoru had slipped into her pants, she pulled off her pyjama shirt and nervously picked up the crop-top. She wasn't game enough to actually view her breasts yet; she feared it would be too much for her. Looking at the crop top it seemed pretty straight forward to put on, but as both twins had found out from their experience in the fashion world, women's clothes tended to be quite deceiving; that is, they looked simple, but had straps, and zips, and clips, and a number of other tricky things concealed in them, seemingly just to make putting them on as difficult as possible. From what Kaoru could see though, there were none of those things apparent on this piece, just good old elastic. So tentatively, Kaoru slipped the crop top over her head and stuck her arms through, then pulled it down so it covered her breasts. It didn't feel quite right though, and that's when Kaoru remembered something from when she was little and had been in the room with her mother when she was changing; after her mother had put on her bra, she had stuck her hands into it and had started moving her breasts around. Kaoru now realized that she must have been moving her breasts into position, so the bra wasn't just squishing them. So, carefully she stuck her hands into her crop top and grabbed one of her breasts, and started moving it around until it sat comfortably in position, then she did the same with the other. The feeling of fondling breasts for the first time was quite strange for Kaoru, and the fact that they were her own just made it even weirder.

After she finally felt comfortable, she slipped on her school shirt, walked to the mirror and commenced styling her hair. As she gelled up her auburn locks, she couldn't help but notice slight differences in her face; like her features being softer and her jaw being slightly more rounded. She looked feminine, and dare she say it, it suited her.

A knock on the door ripped Kaoru out of her thoughts and a familiar voice greeted her, "Hey Kaoru, can I come in yet?" Hikaru asked through the door.

"Yeah, I'm done. Come on in," Kaoru replied as she put the finishing touches on her hair.

The bathroom door opened behind her and Hikaru walked in. Yawning, he walked up to the sink and grabbed his toothbrush, "I looked at the time, it's almost eight." He commented as he squirted some toothpaste onto the brush.

"We'll be on time, and if we're not, we'll just pretend we were," Kaoru responded picking up her own toothbrush. The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of brushing and gargling as the twins effectively scrubbed their mouths out. After that the twins went about finishing off the last of their morning routine before making the joint decision to skip breakfast and head to school.

Kaoru fixed her tie and slipped on her blazer as Hikaru did the same, "This should be interesting," Kaoru muttered as they picked up their schoolbags and headed out of their room to go downstairs.

Hikaru smirked, "Only if you decide to make it interesting, _sis_."

Kaoru blushed and averted her eyes to the ground. It would take a while to get used to Hikaru calling her _sis _rather than _bro_. She still didn't understand how she had accepted things so quickly, she felt like she should have still been running around the house freaking out. She supposed it was because Hikaru had calmed her down by being the voice of reason, _for once_. "You know," Kaoru remarked, lifting her head again, "I can't help but feel like I've forgotten something,"

"I'm sure you'll remember sooner or later." Hikaru answered, fixing the arm cuff of his shirt as they walked.

The twins got halfway down the stairs before Kaoru stopped abruptly and then ran the rest of the way down, leaving a discombobulated Hikaru behind. "Where are you going?" He shouted down to his sister who was now way ahead of him.

"I just remembered what I forgot to do!" Kaoru shouted back, never slowing her pace, "I really have to pee!"

Hikaru pouted and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, watching as his sister located a toilet and almost dove through the door into it, "Figures," he muttered as he made his way down the hall, "She never really _did_ get a chance to go to the toilet."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	2. A Royal Mess

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 2 - A Royal Mess**

The car ride proved to be detrimental to Kaoru's composure. As the minutes passed and they got closer to their destination Kaoru started getting more and more anxious, until she was a nervous wreck when they finally got to school. She seemed to be paranoid about everybody knowing her new secret, and she kept glancing around anxiously like they were all watching and silently judging her. Hikaru had to use all of his self-control not to whack some sense into her. Kaoru was a girl now, and no matter how close they were or the fact that they were twins Hikaru could never hit a girl; even if that girl did have the mind of his identical twin brother. "Kaoru, sensei told us to take out our books," Hikaru informed, nudging his twin in the side after they had sat down for their first period science lesson.

Kaoru turned away from the group of giggling girls that she had been sure were studying her and blinked, "What? Oh yeah, right…" she mumbled, pulling out her science book and flipping it open.

Haruhi looked up at the duo from her desk beside the youngest Hitachiin and frowned. The cogs could be easily seen turning in her head, like she was trying to figure something out. Hikaru glanced over and noticed Haruhi's expression, but didn't say anything lest he worry Kaoru any more than need be. He wouldn't put it past Haruhi to figure it out first; she was the one with the keenest powers of observation, only seconded by Kyouya. "Are you alright, Kaoru?" Haruhi suddenly asked, watching the younger twin intensely.

Kaoru jumped when her name was mentioned but quickly recovered and nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm fine Haruhi, just didn't get a very good sleep last night," she explained quickly, picking up a pen.

Haruhi's frown deepened but she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned back to her own books and started to jot down the notes their sensei had started writing on the board. Kaoru glanced over at her nervously before starting her work as well. Haruhi couldn't know, not just like that. She was being too paranoid; Haruhi had only frowned at her. She could have been thinking about anything, anything at all. It didn't necessarily mean that Haruhi knew she was a girl now. Unless Haruhi had X-ray vision or something. Eww, imagine if Haruhi had been perving on all of them with her X-ray vision. Heh, maybe that's why she wasn't interested in Tamaki; perhaps she had seen a part of him that wasn't quite as grandiose as the rest– _if you catch my drift_. Wait a minute, why was Kaoru even thinking of that? Oh yeah, magically turning into a girl had definitely warped her mind.

"Hey Kao," Hikaru's voice drifted over, causing her to look up and get an eyeful of the cheeky grin he was shooting her, "have you seen the new class pet? It's a guinea pig. We should totally dye its fur or something,"

It took a few seconds but Hikaru's words clicked in Kaoru's mind. At first she didn't know why he was mentioning the class guinea pig, but now she understood. He was trying to make it seem like everything was normal, and that they were up to their usual scheming ways. No doubt Haruhi was intently listening in on their conversation from beside her. Kaoru would have to remember to thank him later; he could really be a lifesaver sometimes. "Totally!" Kaoru agreed enthusiastically, slapping Hikaru a high five. Hikaru winked at Kaoru before turning back to his work.

The teacher decided to finally start speaking then, and all attention was focused on him as he explained the topic for the lesson. Kaoru calmed a little as the class went on and everything appeared to be normal. Haruhi became too preoccupied with her work to focus on Kaoru, and the giggling girls Kaoru had been watching earlier faded into the background. Before she knew it, the lesson had ended and Kaoru was throwing her books together in a pile to pick them up and head to her next class.

"We'll catch you later Kaoru!" Hikaru called as the trio exited the classroom and he and Haruhi turned left to head to their math class.

Kaoru gasped when she realized that she didn't have her next class with Hikaru, and frowned as she watched her brother and best friend disappear into the crowd of students swarming the corridor. A feeling of uneasiness overtaking her once more, she turned in the opposite direction to go to her literature class. She suddenly felt very unsafe and vulnerable, all eyes were seemingly on her again as she trudged her way up the stairway to the upper level of the school.

When she got to her next classroom, she carelessly plopped down at a random desk and chucked her books on the table. To put it bluntly, she was miserable. First she had woken up to find she had new genitalia, and now because of that she had started feeling perpetually overwrought. She knew it was impossible for anybody to know; her appearance was virtually exactly the same as it always was, she now just had parts of the female anatomy, but her uniform safely covered them up. It was at times like these that she thanked herself profusely for dropping sport class after it wasn't compulsory anymore - that surely saved her a lot of explaining.

"Kaoru?"

Kaoru looked up and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, hi Kasanoda." Since Kasanoda's little run in with the Host Club, he and Kaoru had discovered they shared the same literature class, and had become much closer. They often sat next to each other and chatted about this and that, Kaoru had long since gotten over Kasanoda's scary face. They also saw each other at the club when Kasanoda decided to visit, although he had gotten over his crush on Haruhi, he still maintained a friendship with her and the rest of the Host club, which welcomed him with open arms as Tamaki would of course never shun, or let any of the other hosts shun anybody. It also turned out that Kasanoda really was gay, as everybody had started thinking he was when he had confessed to Haruhi; shortly after Haruhi had unwittingly rejected him he had realized his love for his friend Tetsuya*. Kaoru thought they were a cute couple, they really seemed happy together. Kaoru was probably one of Kasanoda's closest friends.

"You look like you're concerned about something." Kasanoda remarked, sitting down next to the redhead.

Kaoru laughed, pulling out her notebook to doodle in it, "when aren't I concerned about something?" she returned, trying her best to act nonchalant.

Kasanoda nodded and shrugged lightly, "good point, you think too much."

Kaoru sighed, "I know."

"Did you do that homework Katakari sensei gave us yesterday?"

Kaoru nodded, "Yeah, it was fairly straightforward," she turned to look at Kassanoda who was now organizing himself for the lesson, ruling up his page. If there were anybody she could do an experiment on it would be him. He was close enough to be able to answer her questions, but distant enough to not get too nosy. "Do you notice anything different about me?" Kaoru asked cautiously, trying to seem innocent.

Kasanoda turned away from his page and looked up, his eyes scanned over Kaoru's form for a few seconds before he shook his head and shrugged, "No, why?"

A weight lifted off Kaoru's shoulders; Kasanoda hadn't noticed anything, and he was a good friend. If somebody like Kassanoda couldn't seen anything wrong then people who hardly knew her, or just fangirled over her would definitely not see anything different. Hikaru was right - nobody would suspect a thing. "Oh nothing, I just gelled my hair slightly off to the side today and I was wondering if it was noticeable, I hate it when I'm not perfectly symmetrical with Hikaru," Kaoru explained, using a fake excuse that had just popped into her mind.

Kasanoda raised an eyebrow, "you're identical, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Kaoru laughed and went back to her doodles, "Yeah, true."

* * *

"Royalty!"

Haruhi's face fell, "Royalty? Really, you couldn't be more original than that?"

Tamaki frowned as tears started welling up in his eyes, "why do you have to be so antagonistic towards everything I say?" he sobbed.

Haruhi's eyebrows rose, "Wow, I think that's the most intelligent thing you've ever said."

Tamaki's crying stopped and he cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "What? Antagonistic? Well you are! I don't set out to make you disagree with me you know-it's very disconcerting!" he snapped loudly.

"You expect me to believe that you really think dressing up as royalty doesn't seem like a way to boost your ego, 'King'?" Haruhi shot back cynically.

Across the room Kaoru sighed, and turned from the fight ensuing a few meters away from her to Hikaru, who was playing some game on his handheld gaming console (Kaoru couldn't remember if it was a DS or a PSP). "They argue like a little old married couple," Kaoru commented, watching as Hikaru mashed buttons with his thumbs.

Hikaru giggled and looked up from his game to face Kaoru, "maybe they will be married one day, and then they'll actually have a reason to argue like this."

"I doubt they'll ever have a good reason for arguing," Kaoru contended snidely, side-glancing the argument that was rapidly escalating.

"I can't believe this! You think you're so innovative? Then you pick out the themes from now on!" Tamaki roared, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

"And give you another reason to sit in the corner growing mushrooms? I don't think so!" Haruhi barked back, leaning in closer to the blonde.

"At least in the corner there isn't anyone denigrating my ideas!" Tamaki reflected, crossing his arms over his chest huffily.

"Now, now, ladies and gentlemen," Kyouya cut in, "There's plenty of time to discuss your disagreements _after _club activities have concluded. Right now, we should be preparing for our customers."

Tamaki turned to Kyouya with a pout "But mummy, our daughter is being disrespectful!"

"To tell you the truth, I don't really care." Kyouya muttered, walking away from the duo, apparently done with the conversation. This did not deter Tamaki though, who started following the raven-haired boy, complaining about their 'daughter'.

Meanwhile Mori walked over to the twins, who were now watching Tamaki and Kyouya amusedly, snickering to themselves. "You guys should get changed." He apprised, glimpsing their uniforms, which were still on them, unlike all the other hosts excluding Haruhi and Tamaki who had been too busy arguing to get changed.

As soon as Kaoru heard Mori's words, she paled. Hikaru however was completely calm, and nodded while taking Kaoru's hand in his own and standing up. "Right you are, Mori-senpai. We'll get on it right away." With that the older twin dragged the younger across the room and into the change rooms, not so much as sparing a look at the other.

"What are you doing?" Kaoru hissed as they came to a stop in the change room and Hikaru turned around, looking as blasé as ever.

"I'm coming into the change room to get changed," Hikaru replied smartly, starting to unbutton his blazer.

Kaoru gaped and grabbed one of Hikaru's hands to stop him from getting undressed any further, "What about me? You said just this morning that it's improper for us to change together anymore!"

"You can stand behind me, I won't look," Hikaru said, pulling his hand back to finish unbuttoning his blazer.

Kaoru frowned but did as Hikaru said. It seemed like the older twin had everything figured out. Maneuvering behind him, she started to strip off her clothes. Incidentally, because of the position Hikaru had put her in, she happened to be facing the full-length mirror that the hosts kept in the change room so they could check themselves. She could see her full body, right in front of her eyes, and curiosity started to overtake her. She realized that she hadn't really looked at herself yet, and as she removed each piece of clothing, she became transfixed with her reflection. All the little differences from her formerly male body became visible to her. The slight curve in her hips, the very faint plumping of her upper thighs, even her hands and feet seemed to have become that ever so much daintier. However, these things did not stand out unless inspected closely. It was only Kaoru who could see them, as she had obviously learnt the appearance of her own body inside-out. It was amazing; she really looked like a female version of herself, yet almost exactly the same as when she was a male. It was a perfect contradiction, a patent of the Hitachiin twins.

When she finally pulled off her top she was almost startled, it was like she had been expecting to see a flat chest, but of course she saw the crop top that she was wearing instead. A million different thoughts flashed through her mind, but the one that stuck with her was _I'm pretty_. And she was, much in the same way as Haruhi. A subtle femininity shined through just the slightest bit, but was nearly overshadowed in a cloud of androgyny; she could be either or, and in a sense Kaoru suspected it had always been like this even when she was a boy.

"Hurry up Kaoru, I'm ready." Hikaru's voice sliced through Kaoru's musing like a record abruptly scratching to a stop.

Gasping at the realization that she had only managed to take off her uniform, Kaoru quickly picked up the prince costume that was laying on the chair next to her and started slipping pieces of it on. After a few minutes she was fully donned in her authentic medieval-style prince getup, a forest green ensemble that was identical to Hikaru's own costume. Hikaru had stayed true to his word, and had not turned around even once, as Kaoru could ascertain from his reflection in the mirror in front of her. She found a considerable amount of solace in the fact that he had respected her privacy, even though she personally didn't really care about it one way or the other. It was he who had decided they now had to abide by new conventions; but still, he was a good brother.

"I'm finished, you can turn around now," Kaoru drawled, folding up her uniform neatly and leaving it on the chair.

Hikaru turned around and smirked as he took in Kaoru's appearance, "You look good in that," he commented, nodding to Kaoru's outfit.

Kaoru rolled her eyes and stepped forward, "I suppose that means you look good in it too." She commented sarcastically, taking Hikaru's hand.

"Oh come on, you know I do," Hikaru teased, flashing her a playful wink.

Kaoru couldn't help but smile at her brother's mischievousness as they emerged from the change room and went to their usual spot. Somehow Tamaki and Haruhi had managed to get themselves together and were now also in costume. However Haruhi appeared none to happy about what she had to wear. As per Tamaki's theme idea of royalty, all the hosts were dressed up as medieval British royals; Tamaki was of course king, dressed in a lavish purple coat edged with white, black dotted fur, holding a septre and topped off with a crown; Kyouya was begrudgingly his queen, in a deep purple velvet gown. Haruhi was the princess, in a flowing pink dress that reached the floor, complete with one of those cone-shaped hats that has a piece of fabric hanging from the top. Hikaru and Kaoru were the cheeky identical twin princes, Honey was a duke, dressed up in an orange vest and tights, and Mori was once again a knight, fully done-up in his suit of authentic metal-plated armour.

The twins sat themselves down at their loveseat again and started making last-minute preparations for their act. As everyone got into position, Mori went over to open the doors and the crowd of girls started filing in, each going to their respective preferred host(s). Tamaki's voice filled the room as the girls took in the Host clubs new decorations and furnishings, "Welcome ladies to the host club, where the service is fit for a king!" This caused girls to start giggling in excitement and soon host club was bustling with activity.

"Tamaki, what do you want to be when you grow up?" one of the girls over at Tamaki's station asked the king timidly.

Tamaki smiled and tilted her chin up so they were eye-to-eye, causing the girl to blush profusely, "Why, whatever you want me to be, princess…" he replied in an almost silkily smooth tone.

The girls around him all squealed in delight and broke into an explosion of chatter. Tamaki just smiled and nodded, listening to all the girls' comments and remarks happily; after all there was nothing he liked better than enjoying time with his princesses.

"Have you learnt any new recipes recently?" Another girl asked Haruhi over at the next couch, as she took a sip of tea.

"Unfortunately no, I've been too busy studying lately to try any new recipes," Haruhi responded sadly, going to pour some of the girls another cup of tea.

"You poor thing, Haruhi has to work so hard!" The girls all cried, jumping up to give Haruhi a hug.

"Kyouya-kun, do you like flowers?" one of the girls sat around Kyouya asked, as the raven-haired boy scribbled things onto the parchment paper with a fountain pen that had replaced his black notebook and ballpoint pen for the day.

Kyouya looked up and smiled, "of course, I think all of nature is beautiful."

"Kyouya is so cool!" the girls all exclaimed, giggling happily.

"Would Honey-senpai like some cake? Or maybe Mori-senpai?" A girl asked across the room, holding up a plate of cake to Honey and Mori.

"Oh, I do!" Honey immediately answered, jumping up to take the cake from the girl. Turning to Mori, Honey picked up the spoon, scooped a piece of the cheesecake up with it and held it out to the taller teen, "open up Takashi! You should try some too!"

Obediently Mori bent down and closed his mouth over the spoon. Sitting back up, he swallowed and smiled, "It's good."

"AAAAAAAH SO CUTE!" the girls shrieked, clapping their hands together in giddiness.

"Kaoru, remember when you fell down and hurt your knee that time and you came running to me crying?" Hikaru asked his 'brother' over at their table.

"Hikaru, don't talk about things like that, it's embarrassing!" Kaoru whined, turning away as fresh 'tears' bubbled up over her lashes.

"Don't cry!" Hikaru cried, grabbing Kaoru by the chin and turning her head so they were face to face, as the girls around them watched on in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

"But you're embarrassing me!" Kaoru sniffed, pouting up at her big brother.

"But you're just so adorable when you hurt yourself," Hikaru replied just above a whisper, leaning in closer to Kaoru, "I love you, _ototo-chan**_."

The silence of anticipation suddenly erupted into a cacophony of sound, "SUCH BEAUTIFUL BROTHERLY LOVE!" The girls around them screeched as they took in the tender scene of brotherly affection in front of them.

Kaoru glanced to the side at the girls who were fawning over her and her brother, while Hikaru let go of her chin and gently stroked her cheek before retracting back to his previous position. Kaoru sat back as well and inwardly sighed. Lately the act had been getting tedious to hold up. The flavour had completely drained out of it, or so it would seem. She couldn't put her finger on the reason for this, all she knew was that her heart ached whenever she put on the charade for the girls with Hikaru. It was like it had become painful almost, something that should have been impishly entertaining was now lugubrious. Still, it was endurable and not yet totally unbearable; just slightly dreary.

The minutes passed by and soon the hustle and bustle of the host club came to a stand still. The girls disappeared, the decorations got taken down and put away, and now all that was left was a little tidying and getting changed back into their uniforms before they would depart.

Kaoru turned and walked towards the change room, stopping just outside of it to look back at her brother who was talking to Haruhi and had yet to realize he still needed to get changed. Coughing rather loudly to get Hikaru's attention, Kaoru put a hand on her hip and tapped her foot impatiently as a scowl formed on her face.

Hikaru and Haruhi both looked over at the younger twin and Hikaru waved a hand at her. "It's okay Kaoru, you can go first. I want to finish my conversation with Haruhi."

Kaoru shrugged and nodded, "whatever" she mumbled, pulling the curtains aside and stepping in. She didn't particularly like it when Hikaru blew her off for Haruhi, but she had made a resolve not to get resentful about it. They were all friends, they were allowed to interact, and there was no harm in it. Besides, Kaoru was sixteen now, it was about time she started acting like it.

Meanwhile, Hikaru turned back to Haruhi with a laugh, "Don't mind her,"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow, "_Her_?"

Hikaru paled and then laughed again, albeit this time nervously, "Oh you know Kaoru, he's so feminine sometimes I forget he's a guy!"

Haruhi gave Hikaru a strange look, "right…"

"Where's Kaoru?"

Tamaki suddenly appeared out of nowhere next the duo. "In the change room," Hikaru replied absently, glancing over at the blonde and then turning back to Haruhi before realizing that he had just told Tamaki that _Kaoru_ was in the _change room_. His breath instantly hitched in his throat and he turned back to Tamaki, only to find he wasn't there. Spinning around frantically, Hikaru spotted Tamaki walking over to the change rooms. "Wait!" He called out, causing Tamaki to stop in his tracks and look back at him questioningly.

"What's wrong?" Tamaki asked, looking very confused.

Hikaru's eye's darted around as he tried to think of something to say, "uh…err…um… what do you need from Kaoru?"

Tamaki raised an eyebrow, "I was just going to ask him if he could do my hair for me for tomorrow's theme."

Hikaru stared blankly at Tamaki. Damn, he couldn't contend this one. The Hitachiin's were in charge of costumes when it came to themes, but Hikaru and Kaoru still had separate talents even if they did overlap to a certain extent. Hikaru was usually called on to do any make-up artistry and Kaoru was the resident hair stylist. He couldn't say that he would do it, because Tamaki would just tell him he'd rather stick to Kaoru. It was a dead end, but he had to find some way. He couldn't let Tamaki see Kaoru. While Hikaru was thinking of a way to stop Tamaki however, he completely checked out and looked as if he had switched off to everybody around him.

Tamaki blinked at Hikaru's blank expression and turned around, not having any idea what all the fuss was about. Walking the last few steps up to the change room, Tamaki pulled the curtain to the side just before Hikaru realized he had zoned out and snapped back to attention in time to shout out a "No!" from behind him.

Kaoru tensed as she saw Tamaki's reflection staring wide-eyed at her in the mirror. She was almost finished changing, she just had to put on her top, and she had been in the midst of that when Tamaki pulled open the curtain. Therefore, her crop-top was plainly visible to the blond. Kaoru blanched and froze in position; she was mortified.

Hikaru cringed and pulled back his hands that had involuntarily stretched out when he was trying to stop Tamaki. Beside him, Haruhi looked back and forth between the older twin and the host king, completely baffled. "What's going on?"

Tamaki released the curtain and let it fall back into position. He turned around slowly, his head slightly bowed so his bangs covered his eyes, but the redness across his cheeks was still visible. "Exactly how many people in this club are _not _the gender they claim to be?" his breathed lowly.

By now all the hosts in the room had turned to see what the commotion over at the change rooms was, all equally curious about why Tamaki looked so embarrassed and irritated, and was saying things about other hosts besides Haruhi not being the gender they were supposed to be.

"Who isn't the gender they claim to be?" Honey's innocent voice broke the brief silence in the room. The senior looked from Tamaki, to Hikaru, to Haruhi curiously from his seat upon Mori's shoulders.

Tamaki snapped his head up and pointed at Hikaru, who gaped in surprise, "Those dastardly twins, that's who!" Tamaki looked over at honey, "They are not boys, they're girls!"

There was a collective intake of breath, then –

"What?"

Tamaki growled, his shoulders shaking with fervor, "I just saw Kaoru changing, h-_she _was wearing a-a _brassiere_!"

Kyouya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and snapped his notebook shut, "Again, _what_?"

Precipitously the curtain behind Tamaki was ripped open and Kaoru stepped out, now fully dressed back in her school uniform. Her face was as red as a tomato and she looked about ready to run out of the room. "To be fair, it's a crop top…" she muttered.

For the second time that day, all the hosts excluding Hikaru, Tamaki and Kaoru responded in unison, "YOU'RE _GIRLS_?"

Hikaru started shaking his head vigorously, "No! I'm not a girl!" The other hosts just looked even more confused than before now, since Hikaru was still contending what had seemingly just been proven with hard evidence.

"That's impossible," Haruhi cut in, resting her hands on her hips, "You are identical twins, so you have to be the same sex. Unless you've been lying about that too, and you're just fraternal*** twins that look identical… is that even possible?"

"We're not fraternal either!" Hikaru barked back.

"He's right, we're identical."

Haruhi looked over at Kaoru, "But you're not the same sex?"

Kaoru looked down and started twiddling her thumbs, "No."

"That is absurd!" Tamaki yelped, "It's just not possible!"

Kaoru sighed, "Look, we _were _the same sex _until today_. I woke up this morning and I had just… _changed_. I don't know how, I don't know why, I don't even know when. All I know is that I went to sleep last night with a penis, and woke up this morning without one."

"And you expect us to believe that?" Kyouya queried.

Kaoru shrugged, "Well no, actually, not really. I can scarcely believe it myself."

"That isn't really helping your cause, Kaoru." Hikaru hissed from his spot a few meters away.

Kaoru looked up and scowled at her twin, "Well what am I supposed to say? Yeah, you have to believe me because this is a _totally plausible_ situation."

Hikaru rolled his eyes, "Stop being a smart-ass!"

Kaoru huffed, "Stop being a dumb-ass!"

"ENOUGH!"

All eyes turned to the king and Tamaki took a step forward. "I don't know what is going on here, and I also find it hard to believe, but as our duty as friends it is our job to support each other no matter what. Therefore, we will help Kaoru as best we can with her very strange problem. Agreed?"

Honey smiled and gave a thumbs up from up on Mori's shoulders, "Agreed!"

Mori looked up at Honey and smiled as well, "Agreed." He replied quietly.

Kyouya pushed his glasses up his nose once again and nodded once, "Agreed."

Haruhi shook her head in exasperation and turned to finish off the last of the things she had to do, muttering, "Agreed," over her shoulder.

Hikaru walked up to Kaoru, took her hand and placed a light peck on her temple before smiling and winking at her in his usual cheeky way, "Agreed."

Kaoru blushed and smiled. Honestly, she would have never thought in her wildest dreams that her friends would be so supportive or that telling them about this would be so easy. If only she could rely on the rest of the world as much as she could the host club. She couldn't lie, she had had a heart attack when Tamaki had walked in on her, but she couldn't even begin to imagine what she would have felt like had it of been somebody else from outside her tightly knit group of friends that had seen her. If she had to guess, she was pretty certain she would have dropped dead on the spot from fright. Looking around the room, she thanked every deity she could think of that she had such good friends, and such a good brother.

Tamaki smiled and ran a hand through his wavy blond locks, "Good," he turned to Kaoru, "now there's something I wanted to ask you,"

Kaoru smiled, "shoot."

Tamaki reached a hand behind his back, somehow miraculously pulled a pink frilly dress out of nowhere, and held it up to Kaoru, "I bought this for Haruhi, but I think it would look much cuter on you! What do you think?"

Kaoru opened her mouth incredulously to promptly tell Tamaki exactly where he could stick that dress, but Hikaru cut in before she could get the words out.

"Weren't you going to ask her if she could do your hair tomorrow?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tamaki gasped and nodded, "Oh yes, I almost forgot! That too!"

Kaoru pouted and rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, whatever."

The Host king yipped in happiness and almost started jumping up and down, "Now tell me what you think about the dress…"

Kaoru inwardly face-palmed herself as she zoned out Tamaki's little rant about the dress and how well it would suit her and how she _really should_ wear it because she would look _super cute_. Fives words flittered through her mind as she thought about what things were going to be like now that the Lord knew about her new gender -

_- _Oh good Kami-sama, _here we go_…

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

**Koniichiwa! I just want to thank you all for the awesome feedback I have received, I'm so happy you're all enjoying the story! Now for some authors notes:**

***Tetsuya **is that guy with the brownish/blondish hair that is Kassanoda's age and lives with his clan. They became friends after Kassanoda found Tetsuya alone on the street, out in the rain; Kassanoda offered his umbrella to Tetsuya, and from that moment Tetsuya knew exactly the sort of person Kassanoda was, not mean and scary, but kindhearted and misunderstood. I always thought they would have been a cute couple, and now in this fic they are haha.

****Ototo **is Japanese for little brother, if I'm correct putting chan on the end of it makes it kind of cutesie. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not an expert on Japanese honorifics, so I may be wrong. In any case, it sounded cute in my head.

*****Fraternal **twins are twins that have been concieved with two different sperm and two different eggs; therefore they are not identical, and no more similar that normal siblings. Incidentally, I actually know a pair of fraternal twins, they are a boy and a girl. They're in my year level and their lockers are right next to mine. They take exactly the same classes and are in the same group of friends so they're pretty much almost always together. Weird but cool, huh?

**On a totally unrelated note, I think lugubrious is my new favourite word :3**

**Stay tuned for the next installment of Pretty Boy!**

**Until then, au revoir mes amis!**

**Amber*****


	3. To Break and To Fall

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 3 – _To Break and To Fall_**

"Do you think I was destined to be a girl?"

Hikaru snapped his head around, eyes wide, "What?" The twins were now home, relaxing after their very long day at school, made all the more tiring by Kaoru's recent predicament. Hikaru was lying on his bed, his back propped up against the wall with pillows, previously reading his favourite manga. Kaoru had been taking initiative and had been finishing off her homework before she fell behind. Maybe her brother could handle missing deadlines, but she preferred to stay on top of these things to avoid unnecessary stress.

"It's just, everybody always said I was so feminine, even you," Kaoru looked down as a blush spread over her cheeks, "I was just thinking that maybe it would make more sense for me to be a girl."

Hikaru started snickering. After a few seconds his snickering became giggles, which in turn transformed into full-fledged guffaws. By about the minute mark he was rolling around on his bed, clutching his stomach in hysterics. Kaoru scowled and turned to the desk she was working at. Grabbing the heaviest textbook she could see (it just so happened to be her Psychology textbook), she turned back around and pitched the book right at Hikaru's head.

As the book made impact with the older twins noggin, his laughing got abruptly cut off and replaced with moans and grumbles. "What was that for?" Hikaru groused, rolling over, sitting back up, and pushing the psychology textbook off and as far away from him as possible.

"You were mocking me!" Kaoru retorted, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"I wasn't mocking you," Hikaru contested, rubbing his head, "you just come up with all these really weird theories. First the Cinderella thing and now this. I actually think it's quite endearing really; but you have to understand, you sound completely crazy."

Kaoru jerked up at Hikaru's words, "How did you know about my pumpkin theory? And I'm not crazy!"

Hikaru shrugged, "Class Rep told me the day after you went off on your little speech about it. He seemed concerned for your mental health, which is ironic considering he was the one who was almost crapping his pants every fives seconds that night… And you can't seriously think you were _meant _to be a girl, come on bro – _I mean sis _– it's a bit weird to be saying things like that." He apprised, holding his chin in contemplation.

"Why that stooge, if he told anybody else I'll rip him a new one!" Kaoru declared, jumping up from her chair and shaking her fists in rage. She looked at Hikaru, "and how is it weird? People get sex changes, people cross-dress - Haruhi's dad does it for crying out loud! All I'm saying is that everybody seemed to think of me as a girl anyway, so maybe this isn't all that fucked up!"

Hikaru threw his legs over the side of the bed, jumped up and walked over to Kaoru enveloping her in a soft hug, "All that stuff about you being girly was only teasing, because you're my little uke. I never thought of you as a girl. And cut down on the swearing, you were much cuter when you didn't have a potty mouth."

Kaoru sighed and rested her head on Hikaru's shoulder, choosing to ignore his last remark, "I don't know, I'm just trying to work all this out in my head." She mumbled dejectedly.

Hikaru nodded, "I know."

"…"

"…"

"Are you going to let go of me?"

"Am I going to let go of you?"

"Hikaru." Kaoru said warningly.

"Yes Kaoru?" Hikaru answered facetiously.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru whined, trying to get out of his hold.

Hikaru's laughing started up again as Kaoru started squirming in his arms. He couldn't deny it: he loved messing around with his brother, now sister, like this. He, now she, was just too cute! Hikaru hugged Kaoru tighter and started tickling her sides. The younger twin started squirming even harder, trying her hardest to hold in her own laughter as her brother continued to move his hands up and down her sides, wiggling his fingers over all the spots he knew were the most ticklish. Kaoru's attempts to break free seemed futile. Until she reached the point where she couldn't contain herself any more and burst out laughing, making one particularly strong jerk which caused both twins to loose their balance and subsequently fall backwards onto Hikaru's bed.

Hikaru snickered and released Kaoru from his hold, rolling over on his side to look at his sister. Kaoru paused a few seconds to get her breathe back, before lolling her head to the side to face Hikaru. A few strands of her fringe fell over her face, and Hikaru reached a hand up to brush them away. "Look," he started seriously for the first time that day, "I know this is really weird and I know you're scared. I'm scared too, I don't want you to change. I mean, maybe you won't, maybe it'll just be physical, but it's possible. I want things to return to normal as much as you do, despite how it may seem. You know that I'll be with you every step of the way, whichever way you go. I'll try to find a solution to this, and if I don't, I give you permission to slap me across the face."

Kaoru rolled her eyes but smiled. For the first time that day, Hikaru wasn't being an idiot. He actually did realize that this was disturbing in the most disturbing way. She could just envision the scenario if it was Hikaru who had woken up with new genitalia, there would have been lots more screaming and swearing. All things considered though, he had been pretty considerate in keeping his anxieties to himself. Kaoru knew that he must have been having a fit internally, after all Hikaru had never been good with his emotions; but the fact that he had held it in today meant he was really coming along in the self-control department. Although he had probably been venting some of his worries through his silly antics, it was better than having him throwing a tantrum.

"Just so you know, what I said in the host club today was true." Hikaru said softly, smiling.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "I'm cute when I hurt myself? Nice, Hikaru. Nice."

Hikaru hit Kaoru on the arm lightly, "No! I mean you are, but that's not what I was talking about."

Kaoru stuck her tongue out at him, "What then?"

"I meant that I love you."

Kaoru grinned and flicked Hikaru on the nose, "Right back at ya, _onii-chan_*."

Hikaru, satisfied with that response, sniffed and rolled over onto his back. Closing his eyes, he let out sigh. "Who's going to take the first shower?"

Kaoru sat up and stretched, "I will."

Hikaru cracked his eyes open and watched as Kaoru slid off the bed and walked over to their walk-in wardrobe to find some pyjamas. His eyes seemed to be transfixed on her every movement, like she was some movie that he was enthralled in. He noticed that since Kaoru had a tiny bit of hip now, they swayed slightly as she moved. He noticed the way her buttocks was slightly rounder than before. He noticed how her eyes seemed brighter and her lashes seemed longer. He noticed how the smile on her face was more pretty and sweet than sassy like it once was. He noticed her skin looked flawless. He noticed how feminine Kaoru really was at this moment, and almost metaphorically fell over at his delayed realization.

Kaoru really _was a girl now_.

His eyes followed her as she pulled a set of pyjamas out of a drawer lazily and walked into the bathroom, until she disappeared behind the door and Hikaru was left staring an empty space. He let his head fall listlessly back on the bed, since he had craned his neck to keep Kaoru in his line of vision. He could hear faint noises of Kaoru moving around in the bathroom, and the maids walking down the hall outside their bedroom. He briefly wondered what they would be having for dinner, and he sat up lethargically to venture over to the desk Kaoru had been working at. It occurred to him that her psychology book was still on the bed, so he picked it up and brought it with him to dump on the tabletop.

As Hikaru reched the desk and scanned over Kaoru's notes for Japanese, like he usually did because he liked to use them as a reference since Kaoru was way better at it than him, he noticed a piece of paper with what appeared to be a poem written on it laying on top of her exercise book. Picking it up, he brought it closer to his eyes to read it properly.

_A cracked mirror_

_Lies on the ground in fragments_

_A flood of pieces, faces_

_Staring back solemnly_

_Gazing down on the tragedy_

_Bad luck will come of this_

_This break_

_And yet, a smile_

_It's ironic really_

_To free one of oneself_

_One must break the reflection_

_But to break the reflection_

_One must suffer._

Break the reflection? What the hell did that mean. And what was this about suffering? This sex change must really be getting to Kaoru. Hikaru put the poem down and scratched his head. So Kaoru wanted to break the reflection. Wait a minute, Hikaru was Kaoru's living reflection. Holy crap, did Kaoru want to beat him up or something? That couldn't be right. But that poem sure made it sound that way. Had he really done something to piss Kaoru off that much?

Kaoru's voice sounded on the other side of the bathroom door, "Hika, could you get me a towel?" the younger twin called out.

Hikaru turned around, "Sure!" he shouted back. Kaoru had already finished her shower? How long had he been analyzing that poem? Whisking out of their room and down to the nearest bathroom, he selected a towel and make his way back to the bedroom. His head was still swimming with questions and thoughts about what Kaoru was thinking and feeling. He felt unexpectedly perturbed at what might be going through Kaoru's head. However, the disturbance lied more in the fact that he was so concerned about the inner workings of Kaoru's mind in the first place. Since when did he care that much about Kaoru's opinions if they didn't directly relate to the club, act, or himself? He had always been a selfish person by nature who could not control his emotions, but lately he had been seeing Kaoru and the others in a different light. He worried for them, especially his sister. He felt like he was turning pure.

Hikaru's brows knit together in deep thought as he contemplated this sudden change in his behavior. He entered his room, closing the door behind him and turned back around to head over to the bathroom. Walking around some books Kaoru had left on the ground earlier, and bypassing the desk with the poem, he reached the bathroom door and threw it open to hand Kaoru the towel, only to be greeted with a high-pitched squeal.

Hikaru's eyes widened as he saw Kaoru stood before him, dripping wet, trying to cover herself with her hands. A look of shock and embarrassment painted on her features. His eyes glossed over her figure, all the exposed flesh that Kaoru could not successfully block with her limbs. He had forgotten, he couldn't just walk in on Kaoru like this anymore and had just barged in. The sight of a nude, feminine Kaoru trying to hide herself so innocently unwittingly aroused and made him harden. As soon as he realized what was happening, a blush crept up onto his cheeks and he stretched out the hand that held the towel. Kaoru swiped it from him and Hikaru turned around instantly, exiting the bathroom and closing the door.

He leaned on the polished wood of the door and let himself slide down to the ground. When he reached the floor, he put his head on his knees and closed his eyes. The image of Kaoru standing in the bathroom seemed to be burned into his retinas. Other pictures of Kaoru flashed through his mind in a sequence; pictures of Kaoru during he act, when they were playing pranks on Tono, when they were in middle school, when they were with Haruhi. Hikaru felt a pang in his heart as he envisioned the mental mural of Kaoru that had built itself in his head. It was like a shrine of worshipping had been set up in there just for her, but why would that be?

Then it hit him. Hikaru lifted is head stared out blankly out at his shared room.

Shit. He was falling for his twin.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

**Translations:**

**Onii-chan**= big brother/ older brother

Yay, chapter 3 is up! Hazaa for character development, which is basically what this chapter is dedicated to. Only thing I want to explain about this is the title of the chapter, as it may seem a bit dark and dramatic for this fic, which isn't what I intended.

The first bit of the title refers to the poem I used. I wrote the poem myself before I started this fic, the title of which is _To Break_; I threw it in here for more than just kicks, it actually does have a cryptic meaning. I wonder if anybody can figure out what it's saying.

The second part of the title refers to the very last sentence of the fic, I'm sure you can all figure out what I mean.

I plan on throwing poems in throughout the fic, any poems I use will be ones that I have written myself.

Now, on to chapter 4!

**Amber*****


	4. Bras N Things

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 4 – Bras N Things**

Kaoru had had no idea how annoying being a girl was, she was starting to feel a lot of sympathy for Haruhi. How had she put up with this moron for so long? She must have the patience of a saint, that's the only way to explain it. Why wouldn't he leave Kaoru alone, just because she had a vagina now didn't mean that she wasn't still Kaoru, one of the _dastardly twins _as he had so eloquently put it. What was wrong with this guy, grow a vagina and a set of breasts and suddenly he's your best friend and forgets all about the concept of personal space.

"Tamaki, piss off!" Kaoru shouted, causing all of the hosts to turn around.

Tamaki shrunk back and lowered the silky baby blue dress he had pulled out of nowhere yet again and started following her with, "but you would look so cute!" he insisted, pouting like a little kid who had just been told he had to go to bed.

Kaoru scowled and raised a hand, showing Tamaki exactly what she thought of the dress. Tamaki sucked in a breath and whipped his head around to Kyouya's direction, "Mummy, are you seeing this? Our second daughter is giving me the finger!"

Kyouya rolled his eyes and walked up to the duo, pushing Kaoru's hand down gently and then turning to Tamaki. "Tamaki, leave Kaoru alone, I think you've failed to realize that she is still a Hitachiin and therefore still liable to pull a nasty practical joke on you if you get on her bad side. Count getting flipped off as being lucky."

Tamaki paled and put the dress down on the arm of the loveseat beside him, before turning back to Kyouya, "Be that as it may Kyouya, it still isn't very appropriate for a daughter to be making such a gesture at her father."

"You're not my father you idiot!" Kaoru snapped, before sighing and resting her forehead in her hand, "I feel like I'm having déjà vu."

"You are, this usually happens everyday with me," Haruhi commented as she walked past with a tray of coffee, "now picture having this idiot trailing you all day as well as two terrible twins on top of you. I bet you feel sorry for me now."

Kaoru frowned and nodded, "god Haruhi, I'm so sorry. I'll never harass you again."

Haruhi smiled, "Thank you Kaoru, at least I'll have one of you off my back now. Just two more to get rid of…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tamaki squawked, following after Haruhi indignantly, demanding that she explain why she would even _consider_ wanting to get rid of him.

Kyouya watched them unperturbed for a second before turning to Kaoru, who was watching the blonde and brunette exasperatedly. "I need to speak with you for minute." He apprised.

Kaoru turned to Kyouya and blinked, "Really, what about?"

"Well, since you're a girl now we will need to make some new arrangements." Kyouya explained, flipping his black notebook open.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "I'm afraid I don't follow."

Kyouya looked down at his notebook, "Since you are now female, you will no longer be able to do topless cosplay, photo shoots or go without a top on outings to the beach. You will not be able to have the physical examinations with the rest of us, and will have to go into a special room with Haruhi to hide your secret. You will not be able to wear skin-tight clothes, as it may reveal your possession of lack of certain anatomical parts. You will have to make sure your gender is concealed like Haruhi. This means you and Hikaru will have to do more photoshopping and smooth-talking than you ever have before to lower the customers' suspicions. Are you prepared for this?"

Kaoru sweat-dropped and scratched the back of her head, "Wow, you never miss anything, do you?"

"It's my job to account for everything. If I don't, nothing would get done. It's not like Tamaki would do it." Kyouya remarked.

"Touché."

"Oi! What are you doing? Chatting up my sister, eh?" Hikaru's voice cut in, before he appeared next to Kaoru, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Kyouya a glare.

Kyouya stared back at him levelly, "hardly."

Kaoru rolled her eyes, "he was just explaining that I'm going to have to cover up my gender now, and going through every single thing that entails."

Hikaru snorted, "we'll just follow Haruhi's example, she seems to be keeping it together pretty well."

"Barely!" Kaoru snapped pointing at Tamaki who was across the room almost accosting Haruhi, "I'm surprised she hasn't committed seppuku yet with that thing latching onto her every chance he gets!"

"You have to be a samurai to be able to commit seppuku," Honey inputted from a few feet away, "it's a ritual suicide they used to practice. The more you know!"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, "that was weird…"

"Who would have thought Honey of all people would know so much about ritual suicide?" Kaoru wondered aloud in astonishment and slight disturbance.

"Back to the topic at hand, do you accept the conditions?" Kyouya repeated, sounding like he was getting frustrated.

"I understand, and I accept the conditions." Kaoru replied resolutely.

"Same set up as Haruhi right?" Hikaru inquired.

"Pretty much," Kaoru concurred, "just more smooth-talking."

"But we got style baby, smooth-talking is easy."

"Smooth with a capital '_smoo_'?"

"You know it! I got ya covered."

"I know you do."

"Give me some skin sis,"

"What?"

"Slap me a low five."

"Oh." Kaoru blushed and slapped Hikaru a fiver. The first thing that had popped into her mind in response to Hikaru's remark would probably not be considered appropriate for family audiences. Curse her mind for being so perverted, why would she even think that he would mean it in that way?

"Sorry to cut into your little exchange, but we should be getting ready for club activities now." Kyouya informed lightly.

"You're such a killjoy, mum," Hikaru drawled.

"Don't call me mum."

"Whatever mum."

"You're both just as bad as each other," Kaoru muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I have work to do. Go and get ready." Kyouya responded, ignoring Kaoru's remark, snapping his black notebook shut and walking away.

"Vice Presidents these days… We really have to find a way to get that stick out of Kyouya's ass…" Hikaru remarked, following Kyouya's retreating form with his eyes.

The last few days had been pretty normal considering Kaoru was still getting used to being female. She actually thought the club would be making more of a fuss about it than they had been; it actually kind of annoyed her that they had fallen back into the routine so quick and easy. When Haruhi was found, there was attention centered on her for weeks, and Tamaki still harassed her to this day. While Kaoru had acquired enough attention from Tamaki, everybody else just treated her like normal. Really though, what else did she expect? She was essentially still Kaoru. She still had her hair gelled up like Kaoru, she still wore the boys uniform like Kaoru, and she still stuck to Hikaru like glue. Of course the other hosts would treat her the same as always.

She supposed that it came down to the fact that she and Hikaru already had a pre-established status in the group, so it wasn't like she was new like Haruhi had been. Everybody already had a clear mental image of the Hitachiin twins, two devilish boys with faces to make you fall on your knees. Kaoru was typecast. Typecast as a little devil – a _male _little devil. Well, that would probably change soon enough.

But did she really want it to change? Or was she just preoccupied with this because the change was so big for her?

Did she really want to be known as a girl?

* * *

"Kaoru, I'm going to go out now. Take your time."

Kaoru watched as the reflection of Hikaru left the change room in the mirror. He had been very brief with her today, like he didn't have anything to say to her, or maybe he didn't want to say anything to her. It was strange, this never happened. The twins could always depend on each other for anything, it wasn't like one of them to just get bored with the other. They got bored of their games, they got bored with other people, but they never got bored with each other.

Kaoru sighed and adjusted her crop top. Damn this thing was itchy. It was starting to leave red marks on her skin as well, bugger it all. It was so uncomfortable, but it was the only thing she had. What to do, what to do…

That was it!

"HARUHI!"

Kaoru waited for a few minutes until Haruhi's head popped through the curtains unsurely. "Uh, yes?"

Kaoru smiled and walked over to her, grabbing her and pulling her in. "Can we swap crop-tops?"

Haruhi's face paled and she shook her head, "No! Not only would it not fit you properly because I'm smaller, but you just don't ask that sort of thing! Why would you want to do that anyway?"

"Mine is uncomfortable!" Kaoru whined, pulling at the stupid support device.

Haruhi looked at Kaoru's crop-top, which was right in line with her face since Kaoru was taller than her. "That looks pretty old and warn out. It _would _be uncomfortable, you should get a new one."

"Where do I get one from?" Kaoru asked, sincerely clueless as to where she would have to go to get one. "I mean I know I'll have to go to a bra shop, but where are the bra shops?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes, "I never thought I'd be saying this to you, but I'll take you bra shopping on the weekend, okay? Can you put up with it until then?"

Kaoru nodded. It was Thursday so she only had to wear this thing for two more days and then she would hopefully be free of it and acquainted with something more comfy. Boobs were such a hassle, and bras were just the worst.

"Good, I'll let you finish getting changed then." Haruhi quipped, exiting the change room and leaving Kaoru to her own device (if you can see the pun, it's intended).

Hikaru watched as Haruhi came back out from the change room, wondering what Kaoru would have wanted from her. So there was girl talk now? Typical. Kaoru was his brother, or sister or whatever the hell Kaoru was, and he should have been the only one allowed in that change room. Now he couldn't even look at Kaoru in there anymore. Maybe he would tell her that they should change by themselves from now on, it would save Hikaru a lot of strife. He was an idiot, he had actually thought Kyouya was hitting on Kaoru before, it was absurd; he hadn't changed at all. He was still the same jealous idiot as always. He could hardly look Kaoru in the eye today; after he came to his little conclusion a few days ago he had been going crazy trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't tell Kaoru because it was wrong, so very wrong, but if felt right, but it was wrong. He wasn't even sure of it himself, so he didn't want to dig his own grave either. Ugh, Kaoru's ways of reasoning were rubbing off on him.

"You're lost in love, aren't you?"

"WAAAH!" Hikaru jumped back and put a hand on his chest, over his heart. Mori looked down on him amusedly from his standing point, which had previously just been behind Hikaru. The older twin tried to catch his breath as he looked up at the kendo champion, "Don't sneak up on me like that Mori-senpai! You gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry Hikaru," Mori chuckled, "But am I right?"

"Right about what?"

Mori lifted a hand and patted Hikaru on the head, "You're in love."

Hikaru's eyes widened and his face broke into a raging blush, "I am not!"

"She's a lucky girl."

Hikaru frowned, "She'll do much better than me."

"Shouldn't that be 'she _could_ do a lot better than me'?" Mori inquired, removing his hand from Hikaru's head and crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, because I'm not making an assumption, I'm stating a fact," Hikaru clarified astutely, "I _know _she'll find somebody better than me, because _anybody _would be better than me."

"Even her own brother?" Mori countered, arching an eyebrow. The older host looked down at the Hitachiin skeptically, mentally asking for him to try and dodge this one.

Hikaru gasped, "Why would you even think of that!" He spat, putting on a mock-appalled air. Count on Mori to hit the nail right on the head without even intending to do so.

"No reason," Mori answered, turning his head to gaze at the change rooms Kaoru was still residing in, "I think you should go for her though. You can't condemn yourself before you even try."

Hikaru followed Mori's gaze and swallowed. It seemed as if the oldest host knew exactly what he thought, how that was possible though Hikaru had no idea. He had only come to the conclusion of his feelings a few days ago, Mori must have been studying him. Strangely though, he was okay with that. It was somehow comfortable knowing that there was somebody who cared enough to watch out for him to assess the way he was feeling. Mori had always been like a protector and advisor to him, it was true what they say about quite people – they make the best listeners. Still, the statement Mori had made was still far off from being pursued. Hikaru didn't feel anywhere near confident enough to do what Mori was proposing.

Things were starting to look bleak from Hikaru's perspective. Why did he have to get these feelings now? At the moment he had no choice but to try and hide his warring emotions from the one person he loved the most, but it was hard considering she knew him so well that she could probably tell when he was trying to hide something. It was like double jeopardy. No matter which way he turned, he came face to face with a brick wall. A dead end. Why was the simple concept of feeling emotions so hard?

As Hikaru's thoughts became more and more pessimistic, Kaoru emerged from the change room and walked over to Haruhi, presumably to continue with their 'girl talk'. Hikaru caught sight of her and watched on, half giddy at seeing his object of affection and half peeved at his inability to do anything about said object of affection. The chorus of '_There She Goes_' started playing in his head, as Kaoru made her way over to the other female host.

_There she goes  
There she goes again  
Racing through my brain  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains…_

Music had always been his escape; it seemed appropriate that seeing something that made him so happy would trigger songs in his head. There were Lyrics for almost every situation, it really was quite remarkable.

"Are you okay, Hikaru?"

Hikaru jumped again and then let out a breath of relief, it was only Kaoru. Wait, KAORU? Where did she come from? Of course the one person he was trying to get out of his mind was the person who would end up right in front of him, "I-I'm fine. Just tired." He muttered, running a hand through his fringe to try and maneouvre it back into position. It had fallen over his face from all his jumping around.

"You must have been in lala land if you didn't see me walking staright up to you. Come on, we'll go home and get some rest, you obviously need it." Kaoru instructed, grabbing Hikaru's arm and pulling them to the music rooms doors.

Meanwhile, Tamaki pranced over to Haruhi and took a seat beside her, being all too nonchalant for his usual temperament. "I saw you and Kaoru talking before, are you sisters getting along like good little girls?"

"We are not related," Haruhi bit back, tapping the stack of magazines she had been fiddling with into a neat pile.

"What were you talking about?" Tamaki asked innocently, either ignoring or just so in his own little world that he didn't hear Haruhi's last remark.

"If you must know," Haruhi began, putting the magazines down and turning to the blonde, "I'm taking Kaoru bra shopping on Saturday, she needs a new one. We were just working out the details."

Tamaki's face burst into a bright red blush but he looked ecstatic, "Oh my little girls are taking care of each other! I'm so happy!" Before Haruhi knew what was coming, he had lunged and engulfed her in one of his infamous glomps.

"Oh for the love of – Get off me Senpai!"

"We're such a happy family! I'm so glad we all get along and are willing to help each other in times of need. Mummy, mummy! Did you hear about our daughters? They're going shopping together! Isn't that sweet! I can't believe –"

"_Damare*_!"

"Mummy, our daughter has a potty mouth!"

Haruhi groaned, "This guy…"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

_*******Damare** _is Japanese for 'shut up'.

Okily Dokily, here we have chapter 4. I feel bad that there still isn't much going on, but you can't have four million things happening at once.

I'd like to introduce two little things that i have put in the story in the last two chapters and that will surely be popping up again soon. In the last chapter included a poem, and in this chapter I put in the chorus of song.

Now I am going to be using these throughout the fic. I like to call them: _Kaoru's Poetry Portfolio_ and _Hikaru's Playlist_. Whenever a poem appears, it will be from Kaoru, and whenever a song appears it will be from Hikaru. These are for effect in the story, and I think they match Hikaru and Kaoru's personalities well. Watch out for them, they'll be popping up here and there!

**Amber*****


	5. Girls Day Out

**Pretty Boy  
**

**Chapter 5 – Girls Day Out!**

Kaoru hummed happily as she slipped on her t-shirt and jeans, the reflection of her form visible on the mirror in her peripheral vision. She had gotten through a full week of this new gender without any major hitches or problems; she'd have to say that was a first. She felt joyful today, excited even. Which was strange, considering she was going bra shopping with Haruhi. If anything she should have been nervous and embarrassed, but she wasn't. Instead of feeling awkward about doing things that only girls should have to do (well, she was a girl now, so what could she have expected anyway?) she was happier that she got to spend some alone time with Haruhi, the only other female in the group.

Truth be told Kaoru still had a bit of a crush on Haruhi, she had just subdued her feelings all this time for Hikaru's sake. Hikaru seemed to have lost interest in Haruhi though, so Kaoru felt like this was finally her time to shine. She now had the opportunity to spend a whole day alone with the little commoner, and a full day to get even closer to her. The thought never did cross Kaoru's mind that now that she was a girl it probably wasn't going to happen, unless Haruhi swung that way. From past incidences in the Host Club it could be hypothesized that it was possible, but highly improbable. Still, Kaoru didn't pay any mind to this fact; she was too focused on her excitement. It was really one of the downfalls of waking up another gender; even though she was now anatomically different, psychologically she was still the same old Kaoru. No matter which way you looked at it, these thoughts were only natural for her since this had always been the way she had felt.

Although Kaoru was anxious to go out for other reasons as well. She knew she still had to get acquainted with a number of female conventions, and she was certain Haruhi being the ever practical and democratic person she was would help her out and show her the ropes. Perhaps she could get some pointers off Haruhi about being female – like how to put on makeup (not like the costume makeup for the club, the real deal with the mascara and eyeliner and lipstick and foundation and all that stuff) and how to walk in high-heeled stilettos. The only problem was, that as Kaoru adjusted her t-shirt to sit in the right place and looked at the mirror, she realized she still looked like a boy. It was going to be very strange for a boy to be trying on bras; people would surely stare and say things. There was only one thing for it then, Kaoru decided. They'd have to go clothes shopping beforehand. In the meantime, Kaoru picked up a brush and started running it through her hair. She would not gel her hair up today it would look too masculine. Instead, she would leave it down, so it looked like Haruhi's. Boyish but still cute enough to be female. Ah androgyny, it was fun to play around with.

Meanwhile, Hikaru sat on his bed, flicking through math notes. He didn't quite know what to think about this whole situation. His brother was going bra shopping; he never thought he'd utter that sentence, even in his head. Technically it was his sister now, but it was still Kaoru, and it was still weird. He hadn't got much warning about this either, after they had got home last night Kaoru causally told him that she was going out today with Haruhi, without any explanation. Hikaru basically had to nag the information out of Kaoru that she was in fact going bra shopping. In retrospect Hikaru now wished he hadn't of forced Kaoru to tell him, he was probably better off not knowing. Bad thoughts had invaded his head, both dirty and awkward. He couldn't decide if he was more turned-on by the thought of Kaoru in a bra, or crept out by the image of his brother going shopping for female lingerie.

"Okay, I'm off!" Kaoru announced, emerging from the bathroom all smiles.

Hikaru looked up from his notes and nodded tiredly, "Have fun."

Kaoru laughed and gave Hikaru a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "I will. See you later."

The whole kissing on the cheek thing wasn't new; they had done that even before Kaoru turned female. It was either a sign of their very close relationship, or just something they had become accustomed to. Hikaru liked that little tradition they had, Kaoru never kissed anyone else on the cheek and neither did Hikaru. It was something shared exclusively between the two of them.

Hikaru watched as Kaoru picked up her wallet and phone and left the room. Before he even thought about it, he picked up his math book and threw it on the ground. His mind was so warped that even he didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't handle it, he couldn't handle these feelings. They were beyond him. It was all too much to take in so suddenly, Hikaru could honestly say he didn't want to be in love; everything would have been so much easier had these emotions not popped up out of nowhere and flipped his brain upside-down and inside-out. He hated this, he hated it! He hated not being able to take the one thing he wanted, the one thing that was forbidden to him. It was unfair and unjust that his mind would screw him around like this.

Then again, that was what life was all about.

Sighing, Hikaru fell back onto the pillows of his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't stay in that position for long though because his mobile started ringing. Groaning, Hikaru rolled over and grabbed the phone off the bedside-table. Not bothering to look at the caller, Hikaru flipped it open and put the phone to his ear.

"_Moshi Moshi_*."

"_Get dressed and come out._"

Hikaru sat up and frowned, "Tamaki, what are you talking about?"

Tamaki could be heard giggling on the end of the line, and Hikaru was sure he could hear Kyouya sighing exasperatedly in the background, "_We're going to spy on Haruhi and Kaoru! Now hurry up and get out here!_"

Hikaru almost jolted into a standing position. This was perfect. Why didn't he think of this earlier? He could keep watch on Kaoru to make sure she wasn't doing anything shifty and see what girls do on days out at the same time. This could count as an educational outing really. He suddenly felt much more optimistic. "I'll be down in five."

Flipping the phone shut, Hikaru ran into Kaoru's and his walk-in wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. He was almost a whirlwind as he threw his pyjamas off and jumped into his clothes. He then quickly ran into the bathroom and styled his hair sloppily, checked himself and then ran back out into his bedroom to get his phone, wallet and binoculars (he always kept them handy in the top draw of the nightstand. You never knew when you might need a pair of binoculars) and whisked out of the room. He almost fell down the stairs in his hurry to get outside, but true to his word he was downstairs and slamming through the front doors in no more than five minutes.

As he walked into the courtyard he found Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori and Honey sitting in a jet-black convertible Ferrari. Hikaru briefly wondered where the car had come from, because as far as he knew none of them owned a Ferrari, but that thought was quickly overrun by the fact that the car looked so ridiculously expensive and lavish that they were certain to be noticed in it.

Tamaki, who was sitting in the drivers seat, turned to Hikaru as he approached the car and slid down the sunglasses he was wearing, "Get in loser, we're going shopping."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"It's from the American movie _Mean Girls_! I've always wanted to say it!" Tamaki explained, grinning from ear to ear.

Hikaru rolled his eyes and ignored Tamaki's antics in order to voice his more pressing concern at the moment, "You don't think that _this_," Hikaru indicated the car, "Isn't a bit conspicuous?"

"I tried to tell him this car was a bad idea," Kyouya, who was in the front seat next to Tamaki, started.

"He wouldn't listen." Mori finished from his seat next to Honey in the back.

"I just got this car! I wanted to use it!" Tamaki whined. Ah, so that explained where it came from.

"What was wrong with the rolls Royce?" Hikaru asked. He personally always liked the rolls, it had served Tamaki well and he wondered what made Tamaki decide to get a new car.

"Nothing! I just liked this car when I saw it." Tamaki replied, shrugging.

Kyouya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just get in Hikaru, before I knock this idiot's block off."

"Kyouya!"

Hikaru slapped a hand to his forehead and opened the car door, sliding in next to Honey and Mori in the back. His friends were so weird, it was lucky he loved them or he might have knocked Tamaki's block off himself.

"How did you know Kaoru and Haruhi were going shopping anyway?" Hikaru asked as Tamaki started up the car.

"Haruhi told me." Tamaki apprised, putting his foot down on the accelerator and taking off.

"Kaoru never told me where exactly they were going, did Haruhi tell you?" Hikaru inquired hopefully.

Tamaki grimaced, "No, Haruhi only told me they were going shopping."

"So where are we going then?" Honey chirped, looking back and forth between Hikaru and Tamaki. By now they had excited the Hitachiin estate and were driving down the road, apparently in an arbitrary direction.

"I don't know…" Hikaru and Tamaki groaned in unison.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Kaoru hopped out of the limo and looked up at the vast building in front of her. The commoners mall was so big and busy! There were people bustling with activity everywhere, all hurrying along attending to their business. There were spruikers out the front of stores, calling out to the crowd and telling all about their wares, booths in the middle of the walkways selling all sorts of jewellery and other trinkets, people carrying bags, people with children, people walking here and there and coming and going and leaving and arriving. It was almost overwhelming. One thing's for certain, it was nothing like the high-class shopping complexes that Kaoru usually found herself in with her family. This place was so unrefined and raw, full of the commoner zest and vibrancy that the rich places just seemed to lack.

"Kaoru?" Kaoru turned around and her face broke into a huge grin. There stood Haruhi, donned in a cute pink shirt with slightly puffed shoulders, a pair of three-quarter length jeans that folded up at the bottom and a pair of plain white runners looking as adorable as ever.

"Haruhi, hello!" Kaoru walked up to Haruhi and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello to you to Kaoru," Haruhi replied, smiling, "So, are we ready to go?" Haruhi asked as Kaoru pulled away from her.

Kaoru nodded and then gasped, "Oh wait, there's something I wanted to do before we went to get the bras," she told Haruhi, who looked at her questioningly.

"What did you want to do?" The brunette inquired.

"I wanted to go clothes shopping!" Haruhi's face fell and Kaoru shook her head, "No, it's not like that, I can explain! I still look too much like a boy in this," Kaoru pointed to her outfit, "And it would be very strange for a boy to be trying on bra's, so I want to go clothes shopping to get some girls clothes, so it won't look as suspicious."

Haruhi looked Kaoru up and down and shrugged, "I guess you do have a point, you do still look like a boy. I guess I just didn't think of that because I'm used to you looking that way."

"It's settled then!" Kaoru said happily, "Let's go!"

Haruhi turned and started towards the front entrance of the mall and Kaoru followed behind her. When they got inside Kaoru realized it was even bustling than she had first thought. The inside was so crowded that the duo had to squeeze their way through people to get anywhere. The cacophony of chatter rang out around them, melding into one indiscernible sound so no one particular conversation could really be made out. However onece they reached the heart of the shopping centre the crowds started to slowly spread out, and they found they could move.

"I don't really go clothes shopping, so you can pick whichever shop you like." Haruhi explained as they passed a chocolate store that Kaoru was sure Honey would go gaga over.

Before Kaoru could respond, she spotted a shop ahead of them named _Beau_. In the windows girls clothing was displayed, cute little skirts, dresses and jackets all lined up for patrons to feast their eyes on. It was a colourful shop, with a French theme. It was love at first sight, Kaoru knew that this was her shop. "That one." Kaoru said, pointing at the little boutique that had caught her eye.

The duo walked over to the little shop and Kaoru started looking through the clothes. She still couldn't get over the whole mass-production thing; more than one copy of the same piece of clothing? It was unheard of in the elite world, everybody wore designer clothes that were uniquely tailored to them. In this place however, it was much different. Luckily Kaoru's fashion sense hadn't been damaged by change, and so she was able to select a number of outfits in record time. Even the cashier complimented Kaoru on her choices when she went to pay, and almost fell over when Kaoru presented her with her gold credit card. Haruhi had to resist the urge to bang her head against the wall. The best she could do was restraining herself to muttering "Rich bastards…" under her breath as she walked out of the store with Kaoru.

"Haruhi, I bought you something!" Kaoru declared, as they left the little shop behind.

Haruhi shook her head and put her arms up to protest, "Kaoru you didn't have to get me anything, I don't need charity I can afford my own clothes, contrary to popular belief."

Kaoru laughed, "I didn't buy it for you because I think you can't afford clothes, that's something Tamaki would do. I bought it because I wanted to thank you for helping me out."

Before Haruhi could say anything, Kaoru dug her hand into one of the three bags she was now carrying and pulled out a simplistic white lace empire-line top and handed it to Haruhi.

Haruhi was speechless, it was all she could do to take the top from Kaoru in shock and stare at it silently. "Thank you Kaoru, it's beautiful." Haruhi breathed, feeling the soft fabric in between her fingers.

Kaoru grinned and winked, "No, thank _you_."

Haruhi carefully tucked the shirt away in her handbag and turned back to Kaoru, "you really shouldn't have,"

"Well I did, so you'll just have to take it." Kaoru retorted playfully.

"I suppose we'll have to go to the toilets now, so you can get changed." Haruhi mused, turning left to head to the food court where the toilets were located.

It took them a few minutes but they made it to the food court and headed into the little hallway in between the shops that lead to the bathrooms. Haruhi and Kaoru came to the doors and Haruhi stopped outside, "I'll wait outside for you." She said, standing aside next to the wall.

Kaoru nodded and went to go in the toilets, but was suddenly grabbed from behind; turning to her head back, she saw Haruhi shaking her head, "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, almost rhetorically.

"I'm going into the toilet to get changed?" Kaoru replied, very confused about why Haruhi wasn't letting her go.

"Those are the _boys _toilets. The girls toilets are the next door over." Haruhi explained, letting go of Kaoru's t-shirt.

Oh, right, Kaoru couldn't go into the boy's toilets anymore. At least she would be able to see what the girl's toilets looked like now, she had always wondered. "Ah, right. Thanks Haruhi." Kaoru fought the rising blush coming to her cheeks and turned to go into the girl's toilets. So here she went. One small step for Kaoru, one giant leap for womankind.

* * *

"This is hopeless!" Hikaru whined, rubbing his eyes with the balls of his wrists, "We'll never find them in here!"

Hikaru, Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori and Honey had all made it to the commoners shopping centre thanks to Kyouya's intuitiveness and the fact that he had foreseen Tamaki and Hikaru not knowing where to go, so had taken it upon himself to research and find out where Kaoru and Haruhi had planned on going. The information he had acquired lead the boys to the commoners mall, but now they had another big problem – they had no way of knowing where in the hell the two girls were in this giant building! They were all currently in the food court, because Tamaki said he was hungry and insisted on finding a place that sold _Baby Star _and commoners Ramen. The food court had proven to be exactly the spot he was looking for, because the King had managed to find both foods he was craving, and was now happily munching away at a bowl of ramen with a box of Baby Star next to him. Nobody else was very happy though, because they seemed to be stuck in an unfamiliar place with no means of finding their target. In times like this Tamaki was solid proof that ignorance really could be bliss.

"Hey, is that Kao-chan?" Honey suddenly asked pointing over in the direction of the toilets.

The group turned and their eyes almost bugged out at what they saw. It was indeed Haruhi and Kaoru, but something was off. Kaoru was wearing girls clothes! She had a baby-blue off-the-shoulder shirt and a white ruffled skirt on with some plain blue slip on shoes, and was that a clip in her hair? It was! It was a white bow clip, which she was using to pin back some of her fringe with. The colours accentuated each other brilliantly, and really made Kaoru's auburn hair and golden eyes pop out.

Hikaru swallowed and gaped, Kaoru looked really, _really _cute! Even when their mother had dressed them up as girls when they were little Kaoru hadn't looked this adorable, and Hikaru had had no idea Kaoru could look this way. All of the other boys were equally, if not more amazed at Kaoru's transformation. It was almost as if Kaoru was fated to wear that sort of clothing, like it was meant to be.

"Kaoru's gorgeous!" Tamaki exclaimed, love-hearts in his eyes. The king was absolutely smitten with Kaoru's outfit, it was his perfect idea of 'feminine' in nearly every way. In his mind the only way that it could have been better was if it was on Haruhi instead.

"Back off Tono!" Hikaru threatened, almost growling at his senpai, "that's my sister!"

"I think you both should turn around before they see you." Kyouya inputted, holding up a newspaper that he had apparently purchased to cover his face.

The Shadow king was right; they would definitely be spotted if they kept goggling at Kaoru like this. Hikaru quickly put his head down on the table they were sitting at, between his arms. Before he forgot, he lifted one of his arms up and grabbed Tamaki by the hair to turn him around as well.

"How do I look?"

Haruhi gaped and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Wow, you look great!"

"Thank you." Kaoru replied, blushing. The two girls walked back out into the food court and Haruhi gestured for Kaoru to follow her, as she turned right. They walked through the shopping center before they came to a lingerie store that Haruhi stopped at.

Hikaru lifted his head to peak at the situation, and saw Haruhi and Kaoru leaving the food court. "They're leaving, let's follow them! Hurry!" Hikaru ordered, jumping up and weaving through people to try and keep a visual of the two girls.

Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori and Honey followed him quickly, although they were all a bit ruffled as Hikaru was moving so quickly that it was hard to keep up with him. They were all curious as to why Hikaru was so anxious to spy on Kaoru anyway, he seemed to be the most animated about it.

"I buy my bras from here," Haruhi explained, pointing at the store, "They're cheap and comfortable, and not too flashy. I prefer plain bras."

Kaoru nodded and looked at the store. It was small but it had a big variety. There were all different colours and sizes to choose from. Now that nervous feeling was starting to well up in Kaoru, so apparently it had just been biding it's time.

"What size am I?" Kaoru asked, eyeing the bra shop.

"We'll pick out a few different bras for you to try on, you'll be able to see which one fits you best and then you'll know for future reference." Haruhi elaborated, heading into the shop.

Kaoru walked in timidly behind her. Kaoru could only watch as Haruhi flicked through bras and handed one to her here and there. When Kaoru had about four bras in her hands, Haruhi told her to go into the change room and try them.

Kaoru walked over to the change rooms and closed the door behind her. Holding up the bras she sighed and started to take off her top, and then the crop-top that was underneath. For the first time, Kaoru looked at the mirror and really viewed her breasts. They were small, and not very impressive, but they were perky and well rounded. She imagined Haruhi's breasts would look much the same.

Enough of that though, this wasn't the time to be examining her body or imagining what Haruhi's looked like. Picking up the first bra, which was black, she slipped it on and clipped it into place. Too lose. She took it off, and picked up a second bra, which was white. That one was too tight. The third one which was tan coloured had cups that were too big. But the fourth bra, which was pink, was perfect. It wasn't too tight or loose, and the cups fit around her breasts nicely so it offered her support. Taking off the bra, she looked at the size and found it was a 12B. So, this was the size she needed it seemed.

Putting her crop-top and shirt back on, Kaoru picked up the other bras and found Haruhi at a rack of underwear, looking at some plain white boy-shorts. "I'm a 12B apparently." Kaoru apprised, holding up the pink bra.

Haruhi walked over to a bra rack and pulled out a few more bras. "These are all 12B, they should fit you. Haruhi picked up another, which looked smaller, "I'll take this one, I need a new bra. It's a 12A, you're one size bigger than me."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "Wait, _this_ is bra shopping?"

Haruhi turned around and frowned, "Well, yeah. What else did you expect?"

Kaoru looked around and shrugged, "You know, I have no idea. I though it would be more complicated than this."

"Common misconception." Haruhi muttered, rolling her eyes, "It's not rocket science you know."

"Evidently."

"Can you see them? Can you see them?"

"Calm down Hikaru, it's like you're trying to perv on them or something." Kyouya commented casually, as he looked at a commoner's watch that was on display behind the glas of the jewellery shop they were standing in front of.

"I can't see them." Hikaru continued, ignoring Kyouya's comment. Pulling out his binoculars, he positioned them in front of his eyes and started searching for the duo. All of the other hosts were ogling at commoner's products, Mori was interested in a sports store, Honey had run off into a confectionery store and Tamaki was prancing around in basically all of the stores. Hikaru was the only one who had stuck to the original task at hand.

Suddenly, Hikaru spotted Kaoru and Haruhi leaving the lingerie store together, both now ad bags in hand, so Haruhi must have bought a bra herself. Hikaru was so intent at watching them that he didn't relaise when Kaoru turned around and was looking right in his direction, she was actually looking right at him. You see, hikaru was only on the other side of the walkway, therefore he was plainly visible with his binoculars, spying on Kaoru and Haruhi. Lets just say the two girls were not impressed.

"Hikaru, is that you?" Kaoru called, walking over to the older twin.

Well, crap.

Hikaru dropped the binoculars, which hit his chest since they were attached to a strap, which was around his neck and froze on the spot. He didn't move a muscle as Kaoru and Haruhi approached him, scowls upon both their faces.

"Okay, where's the rest of them?" Haruhi asked, knowing full well that if one host was present, the others were sure to not be far away.

Hikaru grimaced and hung his head, "Mori's in a sports shop, Kyouya went into this jewellery shop behind me I'm pretty sure, Honey's in a lolly shop and who knows where Tamaki is."

"Why were you spying on us?" Kaoru demanded, poking Hikaru in the chest.

"I just wanted to see what you were doing…" Hikaru mumbled, shrugging hopelessly.

"You could have just asked to come." Kaoru expounded, putting her hands on her hips.

"I could have?" Hikaru repeated back, sincerely surprised.

"Of course you could have! You can go anywhere with me, you know that!" Kaoru retorted.

Damn these new emotions, they had cause Hikaru to forget that Kaoru was still more or less his best friend, of course he could have come if he had asked. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Come on, let's round up the rest of the idiots." Haruhi growled, walking away presumably to look for the other hosts.

"If it's any consolation, you look beautiful." Hikaru said as he and Kaoru followed after Haruhi, a little bit behind.

Kaoru rolled her eyes but smiled, "Thank you, Hikaru." Without thinking kaoru took Hikaru's hand in hers.

A smile came to Hikaru's face as they walked. He felt warm inside. Is this what it would be like to have a girlfriend?

And there go the bad thoughts once again. Hikaru needed to get a brain enema, seriously.

* * *

**_To Be Continued...  
_**

**Kaoru:** Wait, so I'm a girl now?

**Me:** Took you long enough.

**Kaoru:** I only just found this story, I was too busy reading this really steamy HikaxKa- actually never mind.

**Me:** Don't worry darling, we know you love Hikaru.

**Kaoru:** …

**Hikaru:** Of course he loves me, what's not to love?

**Kaoru:** Do you even want an answer to that question?

**Hikaru:** No.

**Me:** I rest my case.

**Hikaru and Kaoru:** What?

**Me:** Nobody knows.

***Moshi Moshi **is used when greeting somebody on the telephone.

**Hello my beautiful people! Another chappie for you lovelies. I just wanted to inform you that next week I may not update, due to the fact that I have 6 assessment tasks on in the week and therefore may not have time to do any writing. Although I am confident that I'll be able to keep updating afterwards! School sucks, doesn't it? **

**Amber***  
**


	6. The Fence

**Pretty Boy  
**

**Chapter 6 The Fence**

So this was her.

This was Kaoru, herself and nothing more. Naked, in front of her mirror, every inch or her female body exposed. She ran a hand down her side and felt her hip curve out slightly. There had never been a curve in her hips before. She cupped a breast gently, wonder in her eyes. It felt soft, and delicate. If she ever turned back into a boy she would have to remember to treat her girlfriends breasts tenderly, assuming she got one. She put a hand over the area of her crotch, but all it touched was air. It was still very strange to not have anything sticking out there anymore, although going to the toilet was now much more convenient, all she had to do was sit down. She slid a hand down her back, and noticed her buttocks had become more rounded and was now more prominent than before. She didn't know whether to be pleased or disturbed by this, was it a good thing to have a curvy butt?

She picked up the bra that was sitting on the bathroom bench next to her and slipped an arm through. It was the pink bra she had bought with Haruhi, it fit well and was a lot more comfortable than the old crop-top she had 'borrowed' from her mother. As she clipped it into place, she once again stared at her reflection. Now wearing the bra she had to admit, she looked good. Pink suited her. Kaoru wondered why she had never worn pink when she was a guy. She had always liked the colour, it had just never occurred to her to wear it before. She would have to pick up some pink tops at some stage. The fluorescent light from the bulb above her shrouded the bathroom in white. She was done though; she had been staring at her body for a good fifteen minutes now. She grabbed her pyjamas and slipped them on.

Heading back out into the bedroom, she found Hikaru standing in the middle of the room, flicking mindlessly through channels on the flat-screen TV they had hanging on their wall. He seemed out of it really, Kaoru noted that he had been this way for the last couple of days. She wanted to get to the bottom of it; his behaviour and attitude were all weird. Something was up, Kaoru knew Hikaru too well for him to hide it.

"Come on, tell me." Kaoru said softly, walking up behind Hikaru and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Tell you what?" Hikaru countered, switching the TV off and turning his head back to look at Kaoru.

"What you've been thinking about lately, you've been acting weird for a while now."

Hikaru stiffened. No way he was going to tell Kaoru what he was thinking about, that was just opening a can of worms that really did not need to be unsealed. Kaoru felt Hikaru go rigid and frowned. It was not like Hikaru to hide anything from her, they had always told each other everything. Why was now any different? This was really starting to irritate her.

"I'm fine, nothings wrong." Hikaru said, turning around in Kaoru's arms so they were face to face. Hikaru gulped. Bad idea, now their noses were almost touching. He hadn't counted on Kaoru being quite this close.

Kaoru knitted her brows together, "I'll get it out of you," it was a promise that was sure to be kept, "You can't hide anything from your twin, I'll figure it out.

Truthfully, Kaoru's words didn't really register in Hikarus head. He was too busy fighting the urge to lean those last few centimeters forward and kiss Kaoru like she had never been kissed before. Which would have been pretty easy since Kaoru had never been kissed before anyway. "You look nice in those pyjamas." He commented, resigning himself to creating a random topic so he wouldn't have to think about his sister standing too close to him for comfort.

Kaoru rolled her eyes, "Are you even listening to me? And I've had these pyjamas for years, I can't see why it would just occur to you now that I look good in them.

"Do I need a reason for thinking you look good?" Hikaru rebutted, desperately trying to keep Kaoru away from questioning him. Things might get even more awkward than they already were if it went any further.

"You're hopeless." Kaoru sighed, pulling her arms down from around Hikaru's neck where they had ended up resting.

Hikaru deflated in relief, like a balloon whose air just got released. Thank kami-sama Kaoru had moved away, one minute more and he was sure he would have caved in. He never did have very strong will power, probably one of the major reasons that his emotions ruled him so heavily.

"I'm going to bed." Kaoru drawled, walking over to her bed and slipping under the covers.

Hikaru shrugged and walked over to his own bed, it was pretty late, although he doubted he'd be able to sleep. The little shopping escapade yesterday had frazzled him good. He only hoped that school tomorrow would be able to distract him at least slightly from his nagging thoughts.

Kaoru watched as Hikaru hopped into his own bed and switched off the lamp next to it. She would find out what Hikaru was thinking, or her name was not Kaoru Hitachiin. "Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

"Ah, you wrote a whole page! I could only think up half a page…" Kassanoda groaned, letting his head fall hopelessly down onto the desk.

In Literature once again, Kaoru finally felt comfortable. In her favourite subject, she was top of the class and didn't really have to try, one of the perks of being good at writing. The class had been assigned to do a creative writing piece of their choice for homework, and Kaoru had written a story and a little poem as well. She tended to get carried away in her writing, she used it as an escape to another world when she felt anxious or lonely. "That's because I did a short story _and _a poem," Kaoru explained, sitting back in her chair.

"Can I read the poem?" Kassanoda asked, looking curious.

"Yeah, sure." Kaoru smiled and handed the sheet of paper over to Kassanoda, who started reading it eagerly.

_Here we are again  
Sitting on the fence  
Wondering which side would really be the best  
You're leaning to the right  
And I'm leaning to the left_

_But neither of us really wants to jump_

_Here we are  
A time we always feared_

_The time where we will finally split is almost here  
You'll go one way  
And I'll go the other  
But neither of us really wants to part_

_So what if I said  
I'd see you again  
In some distant time  
But I don't know when  
Just know that you'll always be on my mind  
I'll always be yours  
And you'll always be mine_

"You're too good, you know that right?" Kassanoda said half-jokingly, half-serious as he handed the sheet back to Kaoru.

"Ah, pish-posh. You're just as good as me, I just like writing poetry that's all.

"Whatever you say." Kassanoda sighed, stacking his books back up neatly ready to leave the class as soon as the bell went.

"Kaoru, can you please stay behind when the bell goes, I need to speak with you," Katakari sensei said, walking up to Kaoru's desk. Katakari sensei was pretty attractive for a teacher; he had mousy-brown hair that was always slightly mussed, and emerald-green eyes that always seemed to sparkle with enthusiasm. He was quite tall as well, and slim to boot. Kaoru had to admit she had checked him out before, even when she was still a guy; anyone could appreciate his aesthetic appeal. He had started to favour her recently, and had become very interested in her work. She was a bit thrilled by the idea that her work was so good, but his sudden attitude change towards her made feel a bit uneasy. There was something off about the whole situation, but Kaoru couldn't seem to put her finger on exactly what it was…

"Oh, okay." Kaoru smiled half-heartedly, wondering what he could possibly need to talk to her about.

No sooner had Kaoru uttered her sentence the bell rang out through the classroom and Kassanoda stood up, "I'll catch you later Kaoru." He said, grabbing his books and exiting the room.

After a few minutes all the other students had left the room and the only ones left were Katakari sensei and Kaoru. The youngest twin swallowed nervously, the atmosphere seemed very different now that they were alone somehow. She hoped this would be over soon; Hikaru would start freaking out if she was too late to lunch.

"You've been doing exceptionally well in Literature this year, you know," Katakari sensei commented, taking a seat next to Kaoru.

"Is that so?" Kaoru mumbled, looking down at her lap. What was this about? She wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

"You've caught my attention, Kaoru," Katakari sensei continued, "I've been watching you for some time now."

"WHAT?" Kaoru yelped, snapping her head up abruptly.

"You're just so adorable and intelligent for your age. I couldn't help taking a liking to you, being attracted to you…"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Kaoru demanded hysterically. She knew there was something wrong! God, her intuition was never off, why didn't she just trust herself from the beginning.

"I'm saying that I like you Kaoru," Katakari sensei breathed, leaning dangerously close to Kaoru.

"I-I'm sorry but I'm n-not interested!" Kaoru stammered, leaning back as Katakari sensei leaned forward. A thought suddenly occurred to Kaoru, she was still dressed as a boy, you couldn't tell that she had changed. That meant that Katakari sensei was coming onto her under the assumption that she was still a boy. Which meant-"Wait, you're gay?

"Come on Kaoru, I'm genuinely interested in you." Katakari sensei insisted, still leaning forward, which was making Kaoru lean backward causing her to almost be hanging backward off her seat.

"I told you, no!" Kaoru yelped, using all her strength to try and push Katakari sensei away. That was when she had a second realisation for the day-she wasn't as strong as she had been as a guy, she couldn't overpower him like she once might have been able to. She was too weak to fight him off.

She was just a helpless girl.

* * *

"She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me-"

"Right now I'm the only 'she' in the room and I certainly am _not _loving you at the moment, as you're getting rose petals everywhere!" Haruhi grumbled as she walked past Hikaru who was lounging on a loveseat, chanting 'She loves me, she loves me not' while plucking petals off an orange rose and letting them land wherever he dropped them. Which meant that more likely than not Kyouya would make Haruhi clean it up at the end of the day.

"She loves me not." Hikaru continued, ignoring Haruhi's comment as he plucked another orange petal from its calyx. Funnily enough he was just doing this to pass time, although he _was _thinking about Kaoru as he repeated the chant over and over again. He wasn't quite sure what he would think if it ended with 'she loves me not."She loves me," Hikaru glanced up at the clock, "SHE'S STILL NOT HERE YET?"

"Calm down, she'll be here soon." Haruhi muttered, bending down and sweeping some of the petals up.

"Kaoru is never late, she always comes straight from her classes." Hikaru apprised, standing up, still clutching the rose in his left hand.

As Hikaru stepped away from the loveseat, Kassanoda entered the music room bringing a hoard of girls with him. He looked frustrated, but he was learning to deal with all the attention he now got. Really it was his own fault anyhow, he was the one who wanted friends.

"Bossanova, you had literature with Kaoru just then, didn't you?" Hikaru asked, walking up to the other redhead and his fangirls.

Kassanoda nodded, "Yeah, Sensei Katakari kept Kaoru back though, probably to commend his work or something. He's top of the class, you know.

"Kept her back…" Hikaru repeated. Something was not right. Kaoru was never late and Kaoru was most certainly never kept back. Hikaru had a bad feeling in his stomach. His sister was in trouble he just knew it. "What room were you in?"

"207." Kassanoda replied absently, not really paying attention to Hikaru in favour of looking for Haruhi, who was currently hidden by a coffee table as she was still sweeping up rose petals.

"I'm going to get her." Hikaru stated with conviction before running out of the music room and down the hall. Room 207 was on the other side of the school he had to hurry. Jogging as fast as he could, he went up and down stairs, down hallways, past groups of people. At one point he even jumped over a guy who was sitting on the ground in front of him. He was on a mission, to get to 207 before it was too late. His twin telepathy with Kaoru was going haywire; he could feel Kaoru's panic in his heart. He knew something was going down. He would not let anything happen to Kaoru, even if his life depended on it.

After a few minutes Hikaru found himself skidding to a halt in front of room 207. He tried to control his breathing as he walked up to the door, which was closed. As he came came closer, he could hear a commotion on the other side of the door.

"Get off of me! Please!" A feminine voice pleaded, desperately. Hikaru's jaw clenched. That was Kaoru's voice.

Without a second though, Hikaru grabbed the door handle and ripped the door open as hard as he could. The sliding door rolled to the side and banged loudly against it's frame from the force of Hikaru's pull.

Inside, Kaoru and Katakari sensei looked up from their scuffle, startled. Katakari sensei had Kaoru half pinned to the desk beneath him, and Kaoru was defenseless. Kaoru's blazer had been ripped open; buttons lay on the floor from where they had come off. Her shirt was all disheveled too. In short, things did not look good. Hikaru's eyes widened and the rose that he had held onto for the whole journey over to the room slipped out of his hand and onto the floor.

"Hikaru…" Kaoru breathed, seeing a fire ignite in Hikaru's eyes that she had never witnessed before.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes. Clenching his fists he started to shake with pure, unadulterated anger. His muscles tensed, and his golden eyes seemed to start burning like two orbs of golden flames. When he opened his mouth, the most low and sinister, threatening whisper Kaoru had ever heard her brother utter came out in six short words.

"Get the fuck off my sister."

* * *

**_To Be Continued…_**

**Hikaru:** No! A Cliffhanger! I swear to god if Kaoru is hurt I'll (Beeping) kick you in the (beep) with a (beep) you (beeping beep)!

**Kaoru:** Language!

**Hikaru:** You don't care? Look at what's happening to you!

**Kaoru:** I have faith in Amber.

**Hikaru:** Faith my ass.

**Me:** Now, now boys. You'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see what happens. I think you're pretty hot when you're angry Hikaru, just saying.

**Hikaru:** So you just wrote this so I could look hot?

**Me:** No, I also felt there needed to be some drama.

**Kaoru:** You don't want no drama, No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama. So don't pull on my hand boy, you ain't my man, boy, I'm just tryn'a dance boy, and move my hump!

**Hikaru:** You don't have any humps.

**Me:** He does in this story.

**Kaoru:** Yeah! My Humps, my humps, my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps! Check them out!

**Hikaru:** ….

**Me:** All the drama just got sucked out of the chapter, thank you very much.

**Hikaru:** No problem.

**Me:** Ugh. Anyway, as compensation for not updating last week (it was out of my control really, but I still feel bad for it) I have goodies! I have done a fanart for this fic. Here is the link my lovelies: amberstarry . d-e-v-i-a-n-t-a-r-t . c-o-m /art/ Pretty-Boy-Now-Available-In-Both-Genders-304615483 (just remove the spaces, and the hyphens in between the website name and com(Not from in between the words that make up the name of the picture, ie Pretty Boy Now Available In Both Genders, leave those hyphens!), I had to put them in because FF won't let you put links in)

**Kaoru:** Damn, I look pretty good as a girl.

**Me:** That you do.

**Hikaru:** Sexy…

**Me:** save it for the later chapters!

**Hikaru:** Kaoru's such a Pretty Boy.

**Me:** He is.

**Kaoru:** If I am then so are you Hikaru.

**Hikaru:** I know.

**Me:** Enough of this!

**Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't update last week, school almost killed me, but I did get through it. I'm hoping that the fanart will kind of make up for the gap between updates. Unfortunately I may not update again next week because my exams are on. They're on the week after as well, only for two days though, so I think I'll be able to do the next chapter before the weeks end. After that it will be regular updates, because I won't have any more assessment tasks for a while, and then the hollies!**

**So if you can put up with one more gap, I'd be ever so grateful. Until then, enjoy the picture that I have drawn)**


	7. A Rose By Any Other Name

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 7 – A Rose By Any Other Name…**

"Get the fuck off my sister."

Katakari sensei's eyes widened and he looked down at Kaoru, then at Hikaru, then down at Kaoru again. "You're a girl?"

Kaoru's face broke into a blush, "Uhh…."

There wasn't time for Kaoru to give a response though, because Hikaru was already next to them and throwing Katakari sensei off like he was a rag doll. "I SAID GET THE FUCK OFF MY SISTER, YOU PERVERT!" He roared, helping Kaoru up off the table.

Kaoru swallowed. She couldn't take her eyes off Hikaru. Sure, he had always been temperamental and she had seen him angry many times before. But never like this. This time he was absolutely furious. He looked like he was ready to kill Katakari sensei right then and there, and it was all because of her. Because she had almost been taken advantage of. Hikaru was on a death mission. The younger twin watched Hikaru's expression, his lips were taught and his eyes were still narrowed. He picked her up gently though, hugging her protectively to him, before turning back around to face Katakari sensei who was now picking himself up off the ground.

"IF YOU EVER TOUCH KAORU AGAIN I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS, _GOT IT_?" Hikaru shouted again, still clinging to Kaoru who was transfixed with him.

"Okay, I won't," Katakari sensei responded calmly, "There's just one thing I've got to ask. Is Kaoru really a girl?"

Hikaru turned to Kaoru, whose eyes were filled with what appeared to be confusion and shock, mixed with an emotion that Hikaru could not distinguish. He had a feeling that Katakai sensei would not leave them alone if he did not respond. "Yes, yes she is, but you can't tell anybody." He said, keeping his eyes on Kaoru.

"Wow, you guys hid it really well. I am honestly very surprised."

"I don't want to talk to you anymore sensei. Goodbye." Hikaru stated bluntly. Before Katakari sensei could even think, Hikaru had started moving out of the room, pulling Kaoru along with him. The younger twin didn't look back at her teacher as she was taken away, out into the hall.

There was something building up inside Kaoru that she had never felt before. It was a happiness beyond happiness that she couldn't describe, for her brother who had come to her rescue. She didn't know what would have happened back there had Hikaru not barged in and broken them up, and she did not want to know either. She was so relieved and felt so secure with Hikaru next to her. She felt like she never wanted to leave his side again, like she would always be safe if he was near. And in truth she would be, because she knew that no matter what Hikaru would always protect her, just like she would always protect him. It had been a very scary and disconcerting realization when Kaoru found she was now too weak to defend herself like she could before. Never had Kaoru realized how fragile girls really were. Even though she and Hikaru had always been fairly slim and small (not so much in height, more in body mass) she had always had a good amount of strength behind her. If she ever had to knock somebody's lights out she could have. Now she didn't have that option. She wanted to hug Hikaru and thank him for saving her, and that's exactly what she did.

Hikaru was taken off guard as Kaoru latched onto him and hugged him tightly. His mind was consumed with murderous thoughts aimed towards that seedy literature teacher. He was sure he had already thought up about fifty ways to kill him and make it look like an accident, but as Kaoru held him like this all of that seemed to melt away into the depths of his psyche. "Thank you, Hikaru." He heard Kaoru say softly, although his shoulder muffled her voice as she was resting her head against it.

Hikaru's eyes lit up and tears started to bubble under his lashes, "It's okay, that scared me so much. I don't know what I would have done to that bastard if I hadn't of come in on time." He couldn't even bare to imagine. His sister would have been violated. Just the thought made his throat tighten and his fists clench. No, he would not think about it. He was just so relieved that he had gotten her out of there. "I love you so much."

Kaoru pulled away slightly and gasped when she saw tears sliding down Hikaru's pale cheeks. He was taking this harder than her, and she was the one that had almost been molested! "Hikaru, it's okay, I'm fine."

Hikaru looked up at Kaoru. All the love, relief, happiness, anguish, fear, protectiveness, confusion and frustration he was feeling seemed to overtake him, making him act without thinking. It was totally on impulse, so neither twin expected what happened next.

Hikaru cupped Kaoru's face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her passionately.

Kaoru's eyes widened and her heart started to beat wildly. What was Hikaru doing? This was not one of their acts. That could only mean one thing. Hikaru was actually kissing her. Hikaru was Kissing Kaoru. The Hitachiin twins were kissing each other. In the middle of a hallway, at school no less. Well, this wasn't a strange situation at all. However, Kaoru found that this didn't disgust her, or even make her want to push Hikaru off; she didn't know whether that was because she actually liked what he was doing, or because she didn't want to upset him though. Kaoru really was too nice for her own good sometimes.

A few seconds in Hikaru's brain clicked and he realized what he was doing. His lips stopped moving and his eyes snapped open and widened to about three times their normal size.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Abort mission, abort mission! Brothers and sisters did not just start kissing in the hallway, or in any other places for that matter! This was bad, so very, very bad. Within a millisecond Hikaru ripped himself away from Kaoru and turned away from her, a fierce blush painting his whole face red. What had he done? More importantly, how was he supposed to explain this to Kaoru? He couldn't just brush it off, but he couldn't exactly explain it casually either. He had just gotten himself into deep, deep water, and there seemed to be no escape.

A kiss from your brother should have felt wrong, right? Well Hikaru's kiss had made Kaoru feel a great many things; wrong was not one of them. This was all too much for one day, Kaoru wanted to go home, crawl into bed and sleep for a week. After everything that had happened she was emotionally exhausted. She didn't have the energy to question Hikaru right now, and frankly she couldn't be bothered. Enough was enough. She would ask him what this was all about tomorrow, when her brain had been rested, was refreshed and could actually process what Hikaru had to say to explain himself.

"Come on Hikaru, let's go to the music room. I want to get our bags and go home." Kaoru said, turning and starting to walk down the hall.

Hikaru span around surprised. What was going on here? Kaoru didn't care? She didn't want to know why he had just randomly kissed her, despite the fact that they were related, that they were twins, no less? What did this mean? Had she rejected him? Was that it? After all the scenarios he had built up in his head of what would happen if he made a move, this is how it turned out? With Kaoru not even acknowledging that anything had happened? This had to be a dream, or more correctly, a nightmare. Kaoru wouldn't, _couldn't _just walk away. This had to mean something to her; she had to be curios. Hikaru refused to believe that Kaoru would just ignore him like this. There had to be a reason. Maybe she was disgusted with him, so disgusted she couldn't even look at him at the moment. Maybe she really didn't give a crap about it, and brushed it off as nothing important. Maybe Hikaru had just made a complete, total, utter fool of himself. That thought made him angry. How could Kaoru do this? He loved her more than anything else in the world, and this is how she responds? Well, he'd see about that.

The words of 'Ever Fallen In Love?' suddenly filled Hikaru's mind.

_You spurn my natural emotions  
You make me feel like dirt  
And I'm hurt  
And if I start a commotion  
I run the risk of losing you  
And that's worse_

_Ever fallen in love with someone_  
_Ever fallen in love_  
_In love with someone_  
_Ever fallen in love_  
_In love with someone_  
_You shouldn't've fallen in love with?_

Oh yeah, Hikaru definitely had.

* * *

Back in the classroom Katakari sensei fixed his hair and shirt, and pulled the tables back into position. He noticed an orange rose lying forgotten on the floor. It was the rose that Hikaru had been holding. In all the commotion Hikaru had endured getting to the classroom, the rose had taken some damage. The rose had only one petal left on it now, and as Katakari sensei picked it up the last petal fell away from its stem and floated down to the floor. Katakari sensei did not know what Hikaru had previously been doing with the rose, or that before he had left the music room the last thing he had said was 'she loves me' as he plucked a petal off.

Now as Katakari sensei threw the stem into the bin, along with the last petal, he didn't think anything of it. However, if Hikaru had of been there to see the remnants of the rose he would have thought something.

_She loves me not._

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

So I managed to get this little chappie finished, even though I've had three exams in the last 3 days, and still have four to go. Well, hopefully I won't fail anything; at least I know I'll probably have done well in English and Literature xD

On a different note, I suppose I should tell you the songs I'm quoting. I forgot to say for the song in chapter 4, so I'll say it here:

The lyrics from the chapter 4 derive from the song _There She Goes_ by Sixpence None The Richer (there are covers of it, but this is the original and I like this version).

The lyrics in this chapter are from the song _Ever Fallen In Love? _By The Buzzcocks (again, this is the original version but there are covers, although I like this version the best).

Oh yeah, and now that FF has an image thingy I gave Pretty Boy a cover on here! It's the fanart of Kaoru I did, which is a split of his female form and his male form :)

**Tamaki:** Wait, are Hikaru and Kaoru going to be okay?  
**Me:** You'll just have to wait and see.  
**Tamaki:** But-  
**Me:** Patience.  
**Tamaki:** I know, but-  
**Me:** Damare!  
**Tamaki:** *zaps over to the corner and starts growing mushrooms*  
**Me:** Oh dear…


	8. Black Birthday

**Chapter 8 – Black Birthday**

Kisses.

Kisses were supposed to be good things. Kisses were symbols of love. Kisses felt good. They felt good to give and good to receive. At least that was way kisses were meant to work. So why, for the love of all that was good and wholesome (pun totally intended, if you can see the irony in that statement) was this kiss the exact opposite of what kisses should have been? This kiss had made Kaoru feel uncertain and uneasy. It had made her confused. She hadn't given it thought at the time, but after she had gotten home it had hit her like a smack in the face. It had made her question her own morality. It had thrown her upside-down and pulled her inside-out. And why did this particular kiss have such a devastating effect on her? Because it had been given to her by her own identical twin brother; that is why.

To make matters worse, Hikaru had started avoiding her whenever he could after the kiss had happened. She didn't understand why though, it was him who had initiated it. She couldn't help wondering where it had come from though, things like that did not just happen no matter how many sappy love stories said otherwise. There were always thoughts and feelings behind those sorts of actions, Kaoru knew Hikaru would never play with her, so he must have had some kind of motive to do what he did. She made a fatal mistake when she didn't question him directly after it had happened, because now every time she tried to talk to him he would disappear before she could get any words out.

"Kaoru, would you come with me please."

Kaoru turned and looked up to come face to face with a pair of sinister looking glasses, which were reflecting the light in a way that covered the eyes behind them from view. "Gyah! Don't look at me like that Kyouya-senpai!" The youngest twin gasped, taking a step back in shock. It was now after school time and both boy and girl were in one of the halls, Kaoru being just about to head up to the music room.

Kyouya raised an eyebrow, "Look at you like what?" He queried nonchalantly.

"If I could see your eyes, I'd tell you." Kaoru said with a sigh. "Where do you want to take me?" Kyouya liked to pop up behind people at the most unexpected of times. It could be quite disconcerting.

Kyouya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Just to the second library, I want to pick up a book that I need for accounting."

Kaoru blinked, "Why do I need to come?"

"I'm not a pariah, I do like to have company."

Kaoru chuckled. "Really, I wouldn't have thought that." She replied cheekily.

Kyouya rolled his eyes and gestured for Kaoru to follow him. "Just come with me."

Ouran Academy had to have had the most convoluted layout of any school ever built. The Architect responsible for this monstrosity of a building obviously had a seizure when drawing out the floor plans, because there were so many staircases and hallways and classrooms that all looked completely the same that it was ridiculous. The Libraries were the most extravagant of the rooms in the building, and possibly the only ones that somewhat differed from the overwhelming pink of the others. Kaoru quite liked the library, if only it wasn't so noisy! All the students liked to gather there and socialize. For the people who weren't on a scholarship, they didn't really need to try in school; they were there because their parents paid out the ass for them to be there. It was only people like Haruhi who were there on privileges that had to knuckle down, because they had no other choice in the matter. As a result, the libraries tended to be crowded with students from all year levels who congregated to exchange the latest gossip. Kaoru could easily understand why Haruhi had stumbled into the host club looking for a quiet place to study instead of being in one of those cacophonies.

As she followed Kyouya down the hall, Kaoru pondered on what exactly was going to happen when they reached the host club. The act would not work if Hikaru refused to talk to her. Then again, maybe Hikaru might have gotten over it by now. She highly doubted that though, Hikaru was petulant and tended to hold grudges. Of course with Kaoru they were never permanent, they were too close for that. But with others Hikaru definitely held stigmas towards those whom he considered to have done wrong by him. It was a personality flaw to say the least. However truth be told, Hikaru would probably keep up the act even if he was angry with Kaoru. He just wouldn't pay attention to her when they were alone.

The journey to the second library was silent and for lack of a better term, awkward. Kaoru didn't really see the reason for Kyouya wanting her to come along, it's not like they were being all buddy-buddy or anything. As soon as they reached the second library and walked in through the enormous double doors, Kaoru was almost immediately bombarded with girls who crowded around her excitedly.

"Kaoru-kun! Kaoru-kun! Happy Birthday!" They all shouted over one another at the surprised twin.

Kaoru's face paled. Oh, crap. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. Today was their birthday and she hadn't even remembered. She hadn't even said happy birthday to Hikaru! Then again he hadn't said it to her either, but that was probably because he was already angry with her. This was bad on so many levels. If she wasn't in the shits before, she definitely was now. Hikaru would never buy the explanation that she simply forgot; he would instantly jump to the conclusion that she had purposefully ignored him. But he had been purposefully avoiding her, so if he thought that wouldn't they both be just as bad as each other? God, why of all times did this stupid fight, or disagreement, or misunderstanding, or whatever the hell this thing was, have to happen over their birthday?

There was one more thing as well – how did these girls know she was Kaoru?

"Ladies, thank you!" Kaoru smiled warmly. "But how did you know that I am Kaoru?"

"That's easy, Hikaru-kun just left the library a few minutes ago to head up to the music room, so it had to be you!" One of the girls responded happily with a giggle.

Kyouya turned to Kaoru. "I'll be back in a minute." He informed the redhead before disappearing ahead into the crowd of over-excited fangirls. Then a light bulb went off in Kaoru's head. Kyouya hadn't said anything to her about anything. "You bastard! Why didn't you tell me it was my birthday!"

The girls around Kaoru burst into giggles. "Kaoru-kun is so silly, forgetting it's his own birthday!"

Kaoru turned back to the girls and laughed. "I'm a bit absent-minded sometimes." When Kyouya came back she was going to give him a piece of her mind, he had knowingly led her into this mess and then had just abandoned her to go get his book. Luckily she knew how to hold up the 'happy' façade so the girls wouldn't catch on to her true murderous thoughts towards the vice president.

"Kaoru-kun we bought you presents, but Hikaru-kun already took all of them. He said he would give them to you when he saw you." One of the girls told her.

"Oh, really? I'll make sure Hikaru gives them to me." Kaoru grinned, acting very excited about the aforementioned gifts. In truth Kaoru knew exactly what Hikaru was doing with those presents. The older twin would have had absolutely no intentions of giving them to her. He would have been heading to the nearest rubbish bin to throw them away. Every time there was a Valentines Day or Birthday or Christmas the Twins would get an overabundance of presents from fangirls that they didn't even want. They would always accept them graciously, but get rid of them as soon as possible.

"Did Hikaru-kun give you a birthday kiss?" A short girl with brown hair and caramel eyes asked, looking up at the younger twin expectantly.

Kaoru forced herself to blush and looked down 'shyly'. "What Hika gave me… it's embarrassing…"All the girls gathered around squealed giddily, bursting into chatter about what Hikaru could have possibly given, or perhaps done to Kaoru to make 'him' so embarrassed.

Kaoru let a small smirk play on her lips. That ought keep them distracted for a while. Just as Kaoru was about to start looking out for Kyouya, the raven-haired shadow king appeared next to her, now with a large green book labeled _Advanced Finance _in his left hand. Why Kyouya was even taking accounting as a subject in the first place was beyond Kaoru. Kyouya couldn't be faulted in the clubs accounting, she didn't know what he could possibly be learning about something that he had evidently already mastered. "Can we go to the club now?" Kaoru asked testily, anxious to get away from the herd of fangirls before she got trapped with them any longer.

Kyouya nodded once and turned around, walking away from the group of girls. "Are you coming, Hitachiin, or are you just going to stand there?"

With a growl Kaoru turned as well and followed the damned low blood pressure lord out of the library, leaving the group of gossiping fangirls behind. The girls continued with their discussion for several minutes until one girl finally realized that Kaoru was no longer with them anymore and they all got very confused as to where the youngest twin had gone.

* * *

"Happy Birthday!"

Oh kami-sama, not these guys too. Kaoru once again forced a smile, this time for her friends. "Thanks guys." She couldn't help the glance at Hikaru, who was sitting at a table that had been set up with cake and tea just for them, with a rather melancholy look on his face. Apparently Tamaki had decided to cancel club activities for today in favour of celebrating Hikaru and Kaoru's birthday, hence the extra cake and tea that had been provided.

"Come on Kaoru, sit next to Hikaru! It's time to get this party started!" Tamaki pronounced, pushing Kaoru towards the table. The younger twin swallowed and walked over to Hikaru, taking a seat beside him.

Now that Kaoru was closer, she could clearly see the pain on Hikaru's face. He almost looked as if he was about to cry. What a way to feel on your birthday. This just confused Kaoru though; she thought Hikaru was angry, not sad. She at least owed it to Hikaru to say happy birthday to him anyway. "Happy Birthday, Hikaru." She said sweetly, gripping her brother's left hand, which was resting on the table.

Hikaru turned his head around to face Kaoru. His eyes held so much grief that Kaoru had a hard time stopping _herself _from crying just seeing her brother so upset. "Happy Birthday, Kaoru." His voice sounded empty, like he had completely given up.

Leaning forward Kaoru wrapped her arms around Hikaru gently in a soft hug. "I love you." She whispered. She was sure she heard Hikaru sniffle as he mumbled a weak 'I love you too' into her hair. This was the only thing she could think of doing right now. How she wanted to find out what was going through Hikaru's head and tell him that everything was going to be all right. It wasn't that simple though. This wasn't like all the other times that they had fought (albeit there really was only one other time, not counting the fake fight they had to trick Haruhi) where she understood what Hikaru was thinking. This time she was completely in the dark, oblivious to the turmoil swirling around in Hikaru's head.

"Who wants cake?" Honey asked excitedly, snapping Kaoru out of it and causing her to retract back into an upright sitting position. Hikaru drew in a deep breathe and turned around in his seat, to face the small boy who was in the process of cutting a slice from the huge Devils Food cake on the table.

"I'll have a piece." The older twin said, reaching over for the plate that Honey put the slice on and held out to him. The smile Hikaru gave the boy-lolita was forced. Kaoru wondered if Hikaru wanted to eat to make himself feel better. She thought that was something girls did. Wait, did that mean that she could do it?

"I'll have one too." Kaoru inputted, accepting the cake that Honey stretched out to her with a thank you.

"What music do we want?" Tamaki asked, standing over at a CD player he had obviously borrowed from somewhere else in the school. "Lily Allen, Black Eyed Peas, Rhianna, Panic! At The Disco, Owl City, LMFAO, etc?"

"Put on 'I'm Sexy And I Know It' and I _will _make sure you suffer a slow and painful death." Haruhi warned dangerously, walking past Tamaki with two lunchboxes in hand.

"Don't worry, even if he _did _have any passion in his pants he'd be _way_ too afraid to show it." Kyouya remarked crudely from over at the table.

Mori, who was beside him, chuckled. "Nice one."

Haruhi walked up to the twins. "Here, I made you both a bento as a birthday gift. I thought it would be something practical that wouldn't go to waste. You can save them for tomorrow or something." She explained, placing a box in front of each twin.

"Thanks Haruhi." Hikaru muttered, opening the box to inspect it's contents. He didn't look too enthralled about the bento, which was somewhat ironic because Tamaki would have been flipping out right about now about how sweet Haruhi was and how much he was going to enjoy partaking in her wonderful cooking.

"Thank you Haruhi, you really shouldn't have though." Kaoru smiled, standing up and giving Haruhi a hug. Before she fully pulled away Kaoru gave Haruhi a kiss on the cheek as well, to show her gratitude.

"It was really nothing-" Haruhi began, but was cut off by the sound of large crash.

Kaoru span around instantly to see Hikaru's chair lying on the ground on it's back, which must have been the source of the crash, and an angry Hikaru walking away in the direction of the doors. "Hikaru?" Kaoru called out worriedly, but she was ignored. Hikaru didn't even look back at her. He just kept his back to her and continued, reaching the door, opening it, and then slamming it shut behind him.

The rest of the host club could only stand and stare at the sudden scene. They were all too shocked to do anything. This was supposed to be a celebration, and the birthday boy had just stormed out of the room for no apparent reason. Kaoru was the only one who was able to move, and without so much as a second thought ran after her brother, leaving the rest of the club members staring incredulously at the music rooms doors, wondering what in hell had just happened.

She had to find him. This couldn't go on any longer. It was late afternoon by now and the sun was hanging low in the sky, casting an eerily orange glow through the windows, over the long hall that adjoined onto the third music room. Kaoru shivered, it was cold out here. One characteristic of their birthday was without fail it would always rain. Kaoru remembered on their fifth birthday they had snuck out of the mansion and into the gardens, while it was pouring. They had gotten soaked and were freezing, their mother had to give them a very long, hot bath to thaw their muscles out. Kaoru liked rain, but ever since that day Hikaru hated it. It was one of the few things that differed between them. Their birthday was just a few days into winter, and it was always cold and rainy.

After a few minutes of running, Kaoru finally caught sight of Hikaru. He was just down the hall from her now. Kaoru didn't notice that as she closed the distance between her and her brother, the orange glow of the sun dissipated into grey as clouds moved across the sky. No lights were on in the hall, so it was fairly dark, but Kaoru never lost sight of her goal. Speeding up, she sprinted the last few metres up to Hikaru. When she was within reach, she grabbed Hikaru by the writs and caused him to stop. "Wait!" she shouted, just as the first splatters of rain hit the windows to the right of them. The world was grey now.

Hikaru stopped and turned back, looking down at the wrist that was being tightly gripped. "Let go Kaoru." He murmured, not daring to meet Kaoru's eyes.

Kaoru ignored Hikaru and kept her hold of him. "What's wrong Hikaru? Why are you leaving? It's our birthday, we should be celebrating!"

"You didn't know it was our birthday this morning." Hikaru retorted. His bangs hung over his eyes, hiding them from view.

"I forgot, I'm sorry! But I want to celebrate now, it's our day!"

Hikaru pulled his hand sharply out of Kaoru's grasp. "It's raining. I hate rain."

Kaoru sighed. "I know."

"It always rains on our birthday. I hate our birthday." Hikaru vociferated.

"What?" Kaoru gasped. Why would Hikaru say something like that? It was almost the same as saying he hated Kaoru. It was the day they both came into the world. It was something you were supposed to covet.

Hikaru finally looked up. There were tears streaming down his face. "Happy Birthday Kaoru." With that he turned around and continued walking, leaving Kaoru behind once again.

As she watched her brother walking away for the second time that day, she didn't fight the tears from seeing Hikaru's pain this time. She let them fall freely. The rain pitter-patted the windows, the now overcast sky shrouding the halls in a dark, grey light. The world had never felt more black, or cold then it did at that moment. After this, Kaoru thought that she might hate rain as well now.

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

**So, chapter eight. Yep, drama rules for now. First things first though, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HIKARU AND KAORU! Which was exactly a week ago today, on June 9****th****. On that note, for anybody living in the Northern Hemisphere you may be confused by how I said that their birthday is in Winter, not Summer. That is because I wanted to use the rain theme, and also because in Australia (where I live) It's Winter in June, so I'm used to it that way. At this very moment I'm actually in front of my heater because it is freezing! Haha. For you guys it might sound strange for June to be cold, but for me it sounds strange for it to be hot xD Anyway I have more goodies!**

**I drew a birthday picture for Hikaru and Kaoru, just a quickie sketch: **h-t-t-p : / / amberstarry . d-e-v-i-a-n-t-a-r-t . c-o-m / # / d52x8gz

**I also did a drawing of Kaoru in the first girly outfit I depicted him/her in: **h-t-t-p / / amberstarry . d-e-v-i-a-n-t-a-r-t . c-o-m / # / d53nvmh

**I also just created a group, specifically for fanfictions about Hikaru and Kaoru. It currently only has one or two members, so I'd love some more! I have uploaded all the Pretty Boy chapters so far to the group.**

h-t-t-p : / / hitachiinfanfiction .d-e-v-i-a-n-t-a-r-t . c-o-m

**^That's the link (remember, take out the spaces and hyphens), so check it out :)**

**Oh yeah, and the bands/ musicians Tamaki listed are just random ones that popped into my head. I don't even listen to Rhianna or LMFAO, but I have heard I'm Sexy And I Know It so many times that I hold the same view as Haruhi bout it xD  
**

**Honey:** So did Hika-chan and Kao-chan eat their cake, or did they just leave it?  
**Me:** I don't think that's really relevant Honey-senpai.  
**Honey:** But Cake should never be wasted! It's too yummy! Right Takashi?  
**Mori**: Yes.  
**Me:** You do have a point. How about I let you eat the cake Hikaru and Kaoru left?  
**Honey:**Yay!

**That's all for now, stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Amber*****


	9. Bittersweet

**Chapter 9 – Bittersweet**

"_Kaoru…" Hikaru purred, crawling up the bed so his and Kaoru's faces were level. "You're so sexy and you don't even know…" _

_Kaoru shivered and stared up at Hikaru astonished. "R-really?" _

_Hikaru nodded and dipped his head down to capture Kaoru's soft lips in a searing kiss, simultaneously pushing one of his knees in between Kaoru's legs. Kaoru suddenly felt very hot. She hadn't exactly tested her new equipment out, if you know what I mean, so this was all very new to her. _

_She didn't have much time to dwell on this though, because Hikaru wasn't going slow. In one swift movement he manoeuvered his arms so that they were no longer holding him above Kaoru, but so one was cupping Kaoru's face, and the other was able to slither up Kaoru's shirt, pulling it off slowly. Speaking of shirts, the one Kaoru was wearing was pink, and very skimpy. Kaoru couldn't remember where she had got it from, but at this moment it didn't really seem to matter. Kaoru moaned at Hikaru's touch, it was intoxicating. The feel of her brother's hands travelling up her stomach gave her goosebumps. "Hika, touch me more…" _

_Hikaru was all too happy to oblige, momentarily lifting himself up to remove Kaoru's shirt, and then starting on the bra that was underneath. He reached his hands around Kaoru, in a seemingly gentle hug, only to retract his arms a few moments later, slipping the bra off at the same time. Kaoru blushed, pink shading almost every inch of her face. Her bare chest was now exposed to Hikaru. The feeling of pleasure bubbling up within her was building at an incredible pace. She wanted more, so much more. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips as Hikaru started kissing down her chest, lower, lower, until he came to her breasts, and not wasting any time proceeded to lavish one of the soft pillows of flesh with his mouth – _

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Kaoru screeched, snapping up in bed. What the hell was that dream? It felt so real, and so good. But Kaoru would never do something like that with Hikaru, would she? Ah, those type of thoughts did not belong in her head! But it was tempting, Kaoru couldn't deny. That was not the point though! Oh god, she was loosing her mind, no doubt about it. Kaoru closed her eyes, trying to get a grip of herself. The dream was not real, _not real_. Focusing, she managed to slow her breathing, and hoped her heartbeat would calm down. That was intense, but at least it was just a dream.

Slipping out of bed, Kaoru glanced over at the empty bed on the other side of the room. Since their birthday last week, Hikaru had started sleeping in the spare room next to their bedroom. He had secluded himself in that room for the better part of the time of when they had been at home together. The only time Kaoru really saw Hikaru now was when they were either having dinner, or at the host club. However being in Hikaru's arms in front of the girls felt more retched than ever. She could feel Hikaru's disinterest and lack of motivation to keep up the act, and knew the only reason he put up with her even in the host club was for the benefit of the customers and so Kyouya wouldn't rip his head off. As much as the host club could always do with new furnishings, Kaoru doubted Hikaru wanted his head displayed on a pike.

With a sigh, Kaoru stood up and walked into the bathroom. It was apparently morning, because grey light streamed through the bathroom windows, solemn but signaling the start of another day. It was Saturday, which meant that Kaoru would be stuck on her own all day if Hikaru's behavior persisted. She didn't want to be alone though.

After she had washed up, Kaoru walked into her wardrobe. She didn't want to be mistaken for her brother today, it would bring about too many distressing feelings. She remembered that she had purchased a few outfits from that shop _Beau_ when shopping with Haruhi. She could dress up as a female. Somehow she felt better about that. Searching through the racks of clothes, Kaoru managed to pull out some blue skinny leg jeans, some black runners, and a green empire-line shirt. She also pulled out a black headband. Getting herself organised, she got dressed and picked up her phone. She would not stay in the house, there was somebody she wanted to visit to talk things over with. She decided that she would leave a note for Hikaru though, because despite the fact that he was not talking to her, she still did not want him to worry if he couldn't find her.

Picking up a pen and paper off the desk, she quickly scrawled down a message to Hikaru in still surprisingly neat kanji:

_Dear Hikaru, I'm going out for a bit. If you need me just call my mobile, I'll have it on me. Love you lots, Kaoru xox_

That should be enough. Kaoru stood back up and left the note on the desk, Hikaru would see it if he came in looking for her, it was the only paper on the desk. With that Kaoru walked out of the room and headed downstairs, calling the driver to meet her out the front at the same time. And within a few minutes, Kaoru had left the Hitachiin estate.

* * *

About twenty minutes later Kaoru found herself out the front of another very large manor, of course it didn't really affect her though, since she lived in one herself. She briefly wondered what went through Haruhi's mind whenever she came to one of the host clubs residences. She must have been pretty awed, because their houses were not just any old buildings; they were huge, extravagant things that made Haruhi's quaint little block of flats pale in comparison.

Quietly getting out of the limo she had taken, and thanking the chauffeur politely for driving her, she closed the car door and made her way up to the front door of the vast estate, passing through the front gardens decorated in pink roses. She had always felt comfortable here, she didn't know if it was the scenery, the familiarity of it all, or just the inhabitant of this place that made her feel so. All she knew was that it always comforted her to be here. Approaching the front door, she knocked on the door with a fair amount of strength. Not because she wanted to bash the door in or anything, but just because she knew due the sheer enormity of this place that if she did not knock hard, it was probable that nobody would hear it.

After a few minutes the door slid open and a short boy with dark honeycomb coloured hair stood before the twin. With a yawn, the boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and blinked wearily, it almost seemed as if Kaoru had awoken him.

"Ah, Chika-kun! Koniichiwa, is Honey-senpai home?"

Chika looked up at Kaoru, only to have his eyes widen to twice their usual size. "Hitachiin! You're a cross-dresser too? Wait, which one are you?"

Kaoru sweatdropped. "I'm Kaoru." Crap, she forgot that the only people who knew were the host club. The fact she was in girls clothes must look very weird to Chika.

"First my brother is an alien, then that Fujioka guy turns out to be a girl, and now you're cross-dressing too? What the hell is with that whacked out club of yours?" Chika exclaimed, throwing his arms around hysterically.

"Umm, it's not exactly what you think-" Kaoru began, but Chika cut her off with his hysteria.

"Am I the only sane one here?" Chika continued, seemingly talking more to himself now than to Kaoru, who was standing awkwardly, still waiting for Chika to tell her if Honey was home.

"What's all the commotion?" A babyish high-picthed voice asked from somewhere behind Chika, before honey appeared holding Usa-chan on his shoulders. "Oh, koniichiwa Kao-chan!"

Chika turned to Honey and pointed at Kaoru. "Hitachiin #2 over there is dressed as a girl! Is everybody in the host club loony?"

Honey chuckled, "But Kao-chan is a girl!"

Chika blanched. "What?"

"It's hard to explain, but Kao-chan really is a girl now. So she isn't cross-dressing really. Just trust me Chika." Honey apprised, smiling brilliantly up at the taller Haninozuka.

Chika shook his head at his older brother and sighed, "Whatever, this is too much, I'm going back to bed." Kaoru and Honey watched on silently as Chika walked away, disappearing into the depths of the Haninozuka manor.

When it was certain that Chika was gone, Honey turned back to Kaoru and smiled happily. "What brings you here, Kao-chan?"

Kaoru sighed and looked down at the ground dejectedly. "I don't know what to do Honey-senpai, Hikaru and I are having another fight, but this time it's my fault. At least I think it is, but I'm not exactly sure what I did…"

Honey frowned and waved a hand, signaling for Kaoru to follow him. "Come in Kao-chan, would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, I'm not really in the mood to eat or drink anything," Kaoru said, shaking her head in polite declination as she followed Honey through the house.

A few minutes later found the younger twin and short senpai in the living room, where the two sat down on the carpet, Honey putting Usa-chan in his lap absently out of habit from carrying him around all the time. Kaoru took off her headband and started playing with it, causing her hair to fall forward, framing her face very femininely. It seemed that as each day passed, Kaoru became more and more like a true girl. Of course this was most obvious to everybody besides Hikaru and Kaoru herself. They were both too preoccupied to notice, but as Honey looked at Kaoru he couldn't fight the flitting thought that Kaoru previously would never have been caught dead in female clothes. Yet here she was now, wearing them of her own free will. It was the little things like this that alluded to the fact that little by little Kaoru's mind was changing as well as her body.

"I noticed that you and Hika-chan have been acting strange. When did this start?" Honey asked, watching the twin expectantly.

Kaoru didn't look up from the headband that was in her hands. "About a week before our birthday. Hika-" Kaoru caught herself, she didn't really want Honey knowing what Katakari sensei had done. That particular bit of information did not have to be mentioned, so she chose to skip it. "Hikaru kissed me."

Honey cocked his head to the side. "Hika-chan kissed Kao-chan? What's so bad about that?"

Kaoru's head snapped up shocked. "You don't think that's strange? Disgusting? Immoral?"

"Well, do you love Hika-chan?" Honey asked. The look on his face was innocent, but the gleam in his eyes that Kaoru failed to catch would have told her that he had more of an understanding of the situation than one might first think by looking at him. It was a common misconception that Honey was a baby just because he looked like one, contrary to that belief he was actually the oldest and most mature of the hosts. Perhaps this is was the thing that attracted Kaoru to him for advice that she could not pinpoint.

Kaoru's response was almost instant, "Of course I love Hikaru!" But that was the question, wasn't it? Kaoru thought to herself after she spoke. She did love Hikaru, with all her heart, but did she love him like _that_? Did she love him like he apparently loved her? Yes, that was the question that had been eating at her. From the dream that she had had, that might very well be the case, but she just couldn't be certain. She wanted Hikaru, in nearly every sense of the word, was that what is what to be _in _love with somebody and not just to simply love them? It seemed too simple a definition, but maybe that was just it. Maybe love, to be in love, when that love was true, _was_ really that simple. Maybe Kaoru was just making it more complicated than it needed to be. "Yes, I love Hikaru."

Honey nodded. "Then if two people love each other, isn't it fine for them to express it Kao-chan? Love is love, you should be happy!"

Kaoru smiled. "Yeah," her face fell though. "But that isn't the problem. After he kissed me, I didn't say or do anything straight away. Since then he's been angry with me and I don't-" Kaoru cut herself off. Of course, how could she have not seen it all this time! Of course Hikaru was upset, he thought she didn't care! The assumptions he must have made.

"Then tell him!" Honey instructed, sounding certain in his advice. "Tell Hika-chan you love him, and then he won't be upset anymore."

It was good advice, but Kaoru doubted whether it would be that easy. Hikaru always took things to heart, and when he believed something it was very hard to change his mind. If Hikaru really did think that Kaoru didn't care, then it would take a lot of convincing on Kaoru's part to make him believe otherwise. Hikaru was definitely a person to hold grudges, no doubt about it. Kaoru had never understood this side of Hikaru, it was one of the fundamental things that Kaoru was just not. Kaoru had always been forgiving, she had never seen the point in remaining angry over things that had already finished and passed. Of course Kaoru was the more passive twin. Emotions ruled the Hitachiin twins it seemed, it was just a different one for each of them. Anger controlled Hikaru, while anxiety possessed Kaoru.

Honey sighed when Kaoru did not respond. "You know, this won't get fixed if neither of you do anything to fix it."

"I know." Kaoru muttered, looking up at her senpai. "Do you really think I can fix this, that everything will work out?"

Honey smiled. "Rainbows always come after rain."

Rainbows always come after rain indeed. Kaoru put her headband back on and stood up. "Thank you for this Honey-senpai, I think I'll be leaving now."

"What? Don't you want to stay for cake?" Honey asked disappointedly.

Kaoru laughed, "Thanks Honey-senpai, but I'm really not in the mood to eat. Besides, doesn't that save more cake for you and Usa-chan?"

Honey immediately brightened. "Oh yeah! Well, I'm glad if I helped you." Honey stood up and walked out of the room with Kaoru. "Don't let this go on for too long, okay?" Honey prompted as they walked through the house to the front door.

"I won't." It was a promise that Kaoru didn't know if she could keep, but would try to anyway. The Hitachiin twins weren't meant to fight. it was bad karma all around. Some divine power created Hikaru and Kaoru to be soulmates, that's why they were twins. At least that's what Hikaru and Kaoru said. It was the best explanation they could come up with. Nobody loved them more than they loved each other. But, would that love be enough?

All is fair in love and war  
And so it shall be forever more  
For love is blind and does not know  
It burns like fire and blizzards like snow  
It can put you in ecstasy or it can break your heart  
It can bring people together or tear them apart  
It can make two halves into a whole  
And there's one thing for certain  
It takes control.

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

**Me:** And here I present you with *Makes an arch over her head with her hands, causing big green sparkly letters to appear* Lime!  
**Kyouya: **You're not going to make much profit you know, because nothing really happened.  
**Me:** This is a non-profit fanfiction.  
**Kyouya:** Why? You could make a pretty penny off this if you wanted, I could help you.  
**Me:** Ever thought that I do this for pleasure rather than profit, you scrooge?  
**Kyouya:** Who are you calling scrooge?  
**Me:** Should I call you mum instead?  
**Kyouya:** Do that, and you'll get to meet the Otori's personal police force.  
**Me:** *Sweatdrops*** **Tamaki, could you deal with this?  
**Tamaki:** Oh Mummy! Come here and give daddy a kiss!  
**Kyouya:** Get off me Suoh!  
**Tamaki:** But mummy!  
**Kyouya:** You'll pay for this, Amber.  
**Me:** You love it.  
**Tamaki:** *Kisses Kyouya full on the mouth* I love you mummy!  
**Kyouya:** *Groans* Yeah, yeah…


	10. Hikaru's Clues

**Chapter 10 – Hikaru's Clues**

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Hikaru jumped up in bed, ripped awake from a beautiful slumber by a scream coming from the room next door. Kaoru. Hikaru sighed and threw the covers off the bed, standing up tiredly. Glancing out the window, he could see the dim world outside, bathed in a hue of grey. It was morning, but Hikaru felt dead to the world, and the world looked dead to Hikaru. This room, the one he had taken to get away from Kaoru, felt cold and impersonal. He didn't like it, he would have much rather been in his own bed, with Kaoru just across from him, but it was too late now. He had made the decision to stay away from Kaoru as much as possible, so now he had to suffer the consequences. You reap what you sow. Hikaru chuckled bitterly at the irony of that saying. He was indeed reaping what he had sowed; he should have known this was what would happen. He couldn't separate himself from Kaoru; it was virtually impossible. He had tried before but it was just too hard. Whenever he was by himself he felt an empty space within his being that nothing would fill, a hole in his heart that only Kaoru's presence could close. A deep, dull ache that only his sister could sooth. And now Kaoru had a hold over him more than ever. If only Kaoru knew what she did to him, if only she realized that he was hers in every sense - as a brother, as a friend, as a soulmate, _as a lover_. She had all of Hikaru, every part of him, his mind, his body and his soul. Kaoru just didn't know that.

Heaving another hopeless sigh, Hikaru turned to the door of the room. There was nothing in there that interested him. His bare feet padded softly on the ceramic tiled floor as he walked out of the room and down the hall. He would have liked to have gone back into his room to see if Kaoru was okay, but he had the feeling that she would kick him out if he did. He plodded slowly through the house, down the stairs, around corners, past numerous maids and servants until he reached the kitchen. The cook was already in there, preparing breakfast for anybody who wanted it. Hikaru took a seat at the bench and watched disinterestedly as the cook flipped pancakes and fried eggs. He didn't usually observe the help in their duties, but at the moment he couldn't think of anything better to do. His room was off limits, his sister was a no-go and he'd be damned if he went purposely searching for his mother or father. They never sought him or Kaoru out, so why should he look for them? Perhaps that was a petty way of thinking, but Hikaru wasn't in the best of moods at the moment and could not be bothered acting his age, even in his head.

Minutes passed and soon Hikaru was presented with a meal that he ate without really tasting, before he knew it his plate was empty and he half wondered what had happened to the food. Shrugging it off he got up and headed back upstairs. He decided to slip into their room to grab some clothes, and once he got dressed he would think of something else to do. After another few minutes of navigating his way through the seemingly endless manor, Hikaru found himself in front of his bedroom door. Taking a deep breath he reached out the pulled the door open. The room was empty. Kaoru was nowhere in sight. Hikaru let out a sound of relief and walked in, heading over to the closet to choose some clothes. When he came back out with a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt, he noticed a piece of paper on the desk as he walked passed with his clothes. Dumping his outfit on the bed, he backtracked to the desk and picked up the paper curiously to read it.

_Dear Hikaru, I'm going out for a bit. If you need me just call my mobile, I'll have it on me. Love you lots, Kaoru xox_

This was so like Kaoru, being so thoughtful and considerate of him even when they were in the middle of a fight. Kaoru really was too nice for her own good. Where did she go though? Maybe she had gone to Haruhi's, it seemed to make sense since Haruhi was the only other female she was close too. Well, Hikaru wasn't just going to stick around here by himself, he was going out as well. He needed to sort his head out, and staying in this big empty manor would not help any. Putting the note back on the desk, Hikaru turned and quickly got dressed, leaving his plain blue satin pyjamas on the bed. The maids would pick them up. He went into the bathroom and freshened himself up, before going back into his room, throwing some shoes and socks on and heading downstairs to the courtyard. Hikaru could describe his last few days of solitude in many ways, but he decided the best way to put it would be the most frank – being alone sucked. There was something so dull and tedious about it. He wondered how Tamaki and Haruhi coped with not having any siblings, and then he decided he'd rather not think about it.

* * *

The limo pulled up out the front of a traditional looking Japanese house, excepting for the fact that the place was giant. However it had more of an authentic Japanese feel to it then Hikaru or Kaoru's home, which has decorated with Spanish décor. Hikaru had always liked traditional Japanese things, he just didn't have many to call his own. He stepped out of the car quietly and headed up to the front door, where he rang the doorbell and waited for somebody to answer the door. There was only a minute's time between when Hikaru knocked on the door and when it was opened, to reveal a boy about a head shorter than him with jet-black hair, who smiled ecstatically up at him.

"Ah, Hitachiin-san, welcome! Come in, nii-san* is in the dojo at the moment."

Hikaru smiled. "Arigatou, Satoshi-kun." He said as he stepped in and followed Satoshi through the house. The Morinozuka residence was rife with rice-paper walls and tatami mats; Hikaru even saw bonzai's littered around in random places. It was somehow comforting.

"Do you mind if I ask which Hitachiin-san you are?" Satoshi asked, an embarrassed blush spreading slightly over his cheeks.

Hikaru laughed, "I'm Hikaru."

Satoshi nodded and then suddenly burst into an excited grin. "Hey, I learned a new kendo move today! I'll be as good as brother one day! Yeah!"

Hikaru grinned as well. He couldn't help catching Satoshi's enthusiasm. The guy was just so cheerful; Hikaru wondered how he put up with Chika; that kid could bring anybody down. Maybe there was something that Hikaru didn't know about there, it seemed the Morinozuka's would put up with the Haninozuka's no matter what. It was sweet, but also weird. Oh well, everybody Hikaru knew was weird, that's probably why they got along. The rest of the walk to the dojo was spent in a comfortable silence as Satoshi escorted Hikaru.

When they got there Satoshi wasted no time in running up to his brother and excitedly pointing to Hikaru. "You have a visitor, brother! It's Hikaru-san!"

Mori put down his shinai** and pushed the bits of hair that had fallen over his sweatband back. "Thank you, Satoshi."

"I'm going to go ring Chika, I want to tell him about the new move I learned!" Satoshi declared before running out of the dojo and leaving Hikaru and Mori to themselves.

"Is everything okay?" Mori asked as he walked over to a bench and picked up a towel, patting his face dry.

Hikaru sighed and shook his head. "No. Remember how you said I was lost in love? Well you couldn't have been more right, Mori-senpai."

Mori slipped the towel around his neck and turned to Hikaru. "Have you told her yet?"

Hikaru's face broke out into a fierce blush. "Ah, well… no."

"You have to tell her." Mori informed resolutely. "Nothing will happen if everything is kept bottled up."

"I know, but it's not that easy; because, well, it's Kaoru!" Hikaru sucked in a breath. He had a feeling that Mori already knew, which is why he said it, but if he didn't then the taller host was in for a right shock. It was a fact though, because this wasn't just any girl, this was the most important girl in Hikaru's life. The one girl Hikaru could not afford to loose. Could he blurt something so pivotal out just like that? He doubted it very much. Although there were so many things he wanted to say, that he knew needed to be said, he just didn't know if he could say them. Was it cowardice? Was it paranoia that he would be rejected? Or was it the fact that he was just a nervous teenage boy, both excited and petrified by the prospect of his first true love?

"Do you love her?"

Hikaru looked up. The expression on Mori's face was as passive as ever, but the question hung in the air, a truth that was just begging to be brought out. It was somewhat penetrating knowing that his whole dilemma really did come down to these four words. Because that was the conundrum; he believed her loved her, but it was a forbidden love. The chance that she would feel the same way was one in a million, no, more like one in a billion. It didn't matter though the fact still remained. "Yes, I love her."

Mori reached up a hand and placed it on Hikaru's head. "Then that's all that matters." The kendo champion turned around. "Come on, it's cold in here."

The atmosphere didn't really change even though the setting did. Hikaru trailed Mori wordlessly as he thought about his situation. As with his breakfast, things seemed to happen without his processing it, and before he knew it he was sitting in front of a fireplace with a cup of hot green tea in his hands. The flames danced and crackled before him, reflecting in his already golden eyes making them appear as if they were blazing. The cup in his hands emanated the herbal aroma that only fine tea could. And Mori, who had his own cup of tea, sat across from him in his habitually silent manner. The fire warmed him, and Hikaru realized just how cold he really was when they were outside in the dojo.

"What if she rejects me?" Hikaru asked, not taking his eyes off the fire in front of him. It was a question that he was not only asking Mori, but that he was simultaneously asking himself at the same time.

"Then she'll still be your sister." Mori answered after a pause. "It may be awkward, but you'll work through it eventually."

Hikaru brought his knees up and rested his head on them, curling up in a ball to calm himself. "Do you think she'll reject me?"

Mori took a sip of his tea before he replied. "No." The answer was monosyllabic and nondescript, but the tone in Mori's voice was assuring. He sounded positive that Hikaru would succeed in his venture; at least somebody had confidence in Hikaru, even if he didn't have confidence in himself.

"So what you're telling me, is that I have to tell Kaoru." Hikaru repeated back just to make sure he understood everything. It still seemed like a plunge he didn't know if he could take.

"Yes." Mori shot back almost reflexively. "Remember what I told you before, you can't condemn yourself before you've even tried. You could get shot down, but that's a risk you have to be willing to take. Remember, this is Kaoru, she deserves your best and nothing less than that."

Hikaru turned away from the fire for the first time to look at Mori. He blinked slowly in shock. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you say." He remarked, stunned at the usually silent host.

"Are you listening to me or not?" Mori retorted, not having any of Hikaru's off-topic comments.

"Yes." Hikaru breathed. "Okay, I'll tell her. I will tell her, I will, I will, I will." In his head he started repeating the little chant over and over again. He would do this. He had to do this. Not just for himself, but for Kaoru as well. For the sake of both their happiness he had to explain his true feelings. Getting up, he placed his now lukewarm cup of tea on the low coffee table beside them and turned to Mori. "Thank you Mori-senpai, I'll be going now."

Mori stood up to see Hikaru to the door. "Good luck." He said in his deep baritone as the two boys exited the room and started walking through the house.

Hikaru pulled out his mobile and flipped it open to look at his wallpaper picture; it was a photo of Kaoru and himself in their pyjamas, grinning goofily as they held up peace signs to the camera. It had been taken when Kaoru was still male, but it was one of the photos of them that Hikaru loved the most. Looking at it gave him a warm feeling, it made him feel like everything might turn out. Yes, this photo gave him hope. Hikaru smiled at the picture and then flipped his phone shut. Turning back to Mori, he patted the taller host on the back. "Thanks again Mori-senpai, for everything."

I've got a little hunch that there is something going on now  
The clothes I brought, the friends I've got  
My teacher had a meltdown

Then I look at me  
And I start to see  
And a voice inside tells me what I must do

Wake up, who knew, it's me, it's you  
Get a clue!  
It's there inside of you

(Oh yeah, that's right)

Get a clue!  
There's nothing you can't do

And nothing's ever quite what it seems  
Just look a little closer at me  
Wake up, who knew, it's me, it's you  
Get a clue!

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

***Nii-san = **Older brother**  
**Shinai = **Sword used in kendo

**Hi people, I've been stuck at home sick for the past three days with the worst cold in the history of the universe (well, it might not be but it feels pretty damn close) so I've had time to write another chapter. Which is why this has been released so early :D  
**

**The song I used at the end is 'Get A Clue' by Prozzac :) **

**Me: **Ugh, again with the character development…  
**Haruhi:** You make it sound like it's a bad thing.  
**Me:** I don't know, I just feel like these sorts of chapters might be boring…  
**Haruhi:** But they're important, aren't they?  
**Me:** Yeah, they have to be in here.  
**Haruhi:** It's too quiet…  
**Me:** Don't jinx yourself.  
**Haruhi:** How am I-  
**Tamaki:** Oh Haruhi! How is daddies little girl?  
**Me:** Just like that. Tamaki, why do you keep working your way into these conversations?  
**Tamaki:** Because you love me, _princess_?  
**Me:** Don't even start with that crap. I am not a princess, I am a goddess, there is a difference.  
**Haruhi:** I can't tell if your one-upping Tamaki-senpai or if your just being up yourself…  
**Me: **A little bit of both I think.


	11. Seeing Red

**Chapter 11 – Seeing Red**

That evening was very strange to say the least; when Hikaru and Kaoru got home they both sough each other out, but since they were both looking for one another, they couldn't find each other. Both twins spent the majority of the night alone, believing they were still avoiding each other, until they both finally bumped into each other when they were getting ready for bed. Hikaru had gone back into the room to get his pyjama's, an ironic parody of this morning when he had ventured in to get his day clothes; however, this time Kaoru was present, laying on her bed with a manga held loosely in her hands. She didn't seem to be focusing on it, Hikaru noted as he walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.

Kaoru looked up, startled to find Hikaru sitting on the bed next to her. She was happy though, she wanted to talk to him, and had been worried when she couldn't find him. "Hikaru, where have you been?" She asked sincerely.

Hikaru looked down at his hands. He felt guilty for avoiding Kaoru, and when she had started avoiding him his heart had almost given out. He could give it, but he definitely could not take it. He was such a pussy! Oh, bad terminology for this situation. "I went to visit Mori-senpai today, because you had already gone out. I saw your note."

Kaoru chuckled. "How ironic, I went to visit Honey-senpai." Hikaru looked up at Kaoru and chuckled as well; before both twins suddenly burst out in giggles, which ended abruptly a few moments later with a defeated sigh, simultaneously coming from the both of them. Both twins were feeling edgy because they didn't know what was going on. Was this a reconciliation? Or was this just a break from the avoidance? Were they still angry at each other? Would they be able to explain themselves? Questions that begged to be answered hung in the air, but neither twin was brave enough to voice them.

"What are you reading?" Hikaru asked, leaning over to look at the manga Kaoru was holding, only to have his eyes almost pop out of his skull. "YAOI?" In front of him was a picture of two guys being intimate. Out of all the things Kaoru could have been reading, that was the one thing he would not have expected in a million and two years.

Kaoru's face broke into a blush. "Um, I just kind of picked this up on my way home…" She didn't divulge the reason that she picked it up though, because it was way too embarrassing. When she had gotten back in the limo she couldn't stop thinking about the dream she had had the night before, it had peaked a feeling in Kaoru that she couldn't shake and had made her very flustered. To put it bluntly, Kaoru was horny as hell.

"But _YAOI_?" Hikaru repeated, incredulously. "Kaoru, a-are you gay?" The only thing that was going through Hikaru's mind right now was that Kaoru was reading guy on guy action. Guy. On. Guy. This situation was disturbing on so many levels.

Kaoru's face continued to darken and she looked down. "I was just curious…" her head suddenly snapped up. "Wait a minute, how am I gay? I'm a girl!" She pouted, irritated. Renge gushed about yaoi all the time but nobody saw anything wrong with it, besides the fact she was extremely annoying. So why couldn't Kaoru look at it once without being called gay?

Hikaru's face contorted into a strange expression, like he didn't know what emotion he was feeling. In truth, he actually didn't. "It's just, I don't know, I never pictured you as the kind of guy…err…girl to be into that sort of thing."

Kaoru knitted her eyebrows together. Was there something wrong with reading yaoi? Or even liking yaoi for that matter? This annoyed her, it annoyed her very much. She was allowed to like whatever she wanted. Come to think of it she had always had to follow Hikaru, and had always been pressured into doing what _he _liked. It was only in the last few years that Kaoru's love of writing was really allowed to flourish to its full extent; this was unacceptable. "I'm allowed to like whatever I want to like!" she snapped, closing the manga in her hand with unnecessary force.

Hikaru moved back in shock. "Calm down, I never said you couldn't! I was just surprised!" He had no idea what was happening here. One moment Kaoru had been calm, the next she was metaphorically ripping his head off.

Kaoru sighed. "You know what, my stomach hurts. I'm going to go to the toilet." With that she leaned forward so she was on all fours and crawled around Hikaru to slip off the bed. The older twin watched as his sister stalked into the en suite bathroom and slammed the door.

All Hikaru could do was blink in confusion. "What the hell was that?"

Meanwhile, Kaoru walked over to the mirror in the bathroom and groaned. She had been starving by the time she had gotten home, and had pigged out at dinner. Hikaru hadn't been there, but had she known that the exact opposite had happened to him (that he had eaten during the day and did not feel hungry at dinner time) then his absence would have made sense. In retrospect she probably should have taken Honey up on that offer of cake, but at the time she really didn't have an appetite. Come an hour or so later, and she was so ravenous that she would have eaten anything edible that was presented to her. This was the problem though, for since then she had had terrible stomach cramps that came and went. They were strange though, not like any she had ever had before. They were very low in her stomach, almost near her pubic area, and her vagina (it still felt weird to say that) felt like it was about to fall out. But it must have been from eating too much, right?

Kaoru turned away from the mirror and headed over to the toilet. Maybe she could make herself go or throw up or something and then she would feel better. Pulling down her pants, she sat down on the toilet and got comfortable, only to look down, spot her underwear and let out the loudest shriek that she ever uttered, and that Hikaru, who was still in the bedroom and half finished changing into his pyjamas, would ever hear.

Kaoru's face blanched. This was it. She was dying. Why did she have to be so young though? She hadn't experienced so many things! She hadn't gotten married, or bought a house, or had kids, or had sex, or had a boyfrien- wait a minute, what? Why would she want a boyfriend? She meant a girlfriend, that's it! She had never had a girlfriend either.

As these thoughts of her believed to be last moments danced through Kaoru's head, the bathroom door slammed open and a Hikaru with his pyjama pants around his shins and one arm of his shirt on while the rest of it hung off him barged in, looking like he was about to die of worry. He had good reason really, you didn't hear a scream of such utter terror like that everyday. "What's wrong?" he asked frantically, only to spot Kaoru on the toilet and pout in annoyance. "Why is it that whenever you scream lately you're going to the toilet, and one of us always ends up in the bathroom with our pants around our shins?"

Kaoru looked up at Hikaru with an expression of sheer horror. "I'm dying!"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The younger twin looked back down at her underwear and bit her lip anxiously before responding. "I'm bleeding! There's blood everywhere!" She yelped, putting her hands on both sides of her face to somehow block out the mental images of her own death that were swarming through her head.

Hikaru's mouth dropped open. "You're bleeding? From _there_? Oh my god, umm, uh…" Hikaru froze. What could he do in this situation? Was this normal? He vaguely remembered something about it from somewhere, but he was too panicky to recall what it was. A thought suddenly popped into his head. "I'll call Haruhi! Maybe she'll know what to do!" He turned around and waddled back into the bedroom (he could only move like that with his pants around his shins, although now they had fallen down to around his ankles). Hurrying as best he could to the bedside table, he picked up his phone and quickly scrolled through his contacts to Haruhi (lucky there was only the host club members and his parents in there, otherwise it may have taken awhile) and pressed call. He looked back at the bathroom anxiously as the phone began to ring, and it felt like hours before Haruhi's voice finally answered the phone.

"_Moshi Moshi_?"

"HARUHI!" Hikaru shouted, "KAORU IS BLEEDING, FROM, FROM _THERE_! WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DOES SHE DO?" This was too much for Hikaru, his nerves were almost all burnt out from stress.

Haruhi's reply was an exasperated sigh; she didn't seem phased at all. "_Hikaru, calm down._" She instructed calmly. "_Put me on to Kaoru_."

Hikaru nodded even though Haruhi couldn't see him. "O-okay." He agreed shakily, beginning to waddle back in the direction from which he had came. When he got back into the bathroom Kaoru was still on the toilet in the same position she had been when he left. Half curled up, eyes squeezed shut, hands cradling her head and a look of fear painted on her face. Hkaru walked up to her and handed her the phone weakly. "It's Haruhi."

Kaoru took the phone with a shaking hand and put the phone to her ear. "Haruhi, I'm dying aren't I?"

"_You're not dying."_ Haruhi answered immediately.

"BUT I AM!" Kaoru cried into the phone, tears finally falling from her eyes. "YOU ONLY BLEED WHEN YOU'RE DYING!"

"_If only that were the actual case…_" Haruhi mumbled cynically on the other end of the line. "_Look Kaoru, calm down, please._"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN?" Kaoru demanded hysterically.

"_Please just listen to me._"

"I'M TOO YOUNG!"

"_Kaoru._"

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"_KAORU, FOR THE LAST TIME YOU'RE NOT DYING._"

"I'M NOT READY YET, I-"

"_YOU'VE JUST GOT YOUR PERIOD!_"

There was silence. Kaoru's breath caught in her throat. No, no that just couldn't be. She was a girl, but she couldn't get a period. It just wasn't so. No matter which way Kaoru tried to comprehend that information it just didn't compute. Kaoru Hitachiin could not get a period, because that meant… it meant that Kaoru Hitachiin could have babies. _Babies_.

Hikaru's eyes widened, as Haruhi had screamed into the phone so loud that he had heard it as well. A period? It made sense but Kaoru couldn't get a period, well of course she could, but, it just didn't sound right. Kaoru getting a period. Nope, it didn't sound right at all.

Back at Haruhi's apartment, Ranka turned around, revealing hearts in his eyes. "Oh, does my Haruhi have girlfriends now?"

Haruhi looked at her father and rolled her eyes. "Something like that."

"M-my p-eriod?" Kaoru whispered, not sure of whether she should be happy, even more scared, or some other emotion that she hadn't thought of yet.

"_Yes, your period. It's perfectly normal, so don't stress. You probably don't have any pads or tampons so just fold some toilet paper up and use that for now, I'll give you some pads tomorrow._" Haruhi said calmly.

Kaoru took in a deep breath and looked up at Hikaru, who was frozen beside her, just as stunned at this information as she was. "Okay, I-I'll do that. Thanks Haruhi."

"_Talk to you tomorrow, Kaoru._"

"Yeah, see ya later, Haruhi." Kaoru flipped the phone shut and held it out to Hikaru, who was yet still frozen beside her. "Thank you for ringing Haruhi."

Hikaru finally snapped out of it and took the phone off Kaoru. "Are you okay?"

Kaoru nodded wearily. "I think so, just let me have some time."

Hikaru pressed his lips together and turned around, leaving the bathroom and letting Kaoru finish up by herself. This was a defining moment for both he and Kaoru. It solidified the fact that Kaoru was really a girl now, and not only that, she had passed through to womanhood. No longer could he think of Kaoru as his brother, in any sense, because all trace of that Kaoru had disappeared. The only thing that remained was Kaoru's personality. It was still his Kaoru, but it was now his sister.

* * *

Kaoru couldn't believe it. In some part of her mind she had thought that even though she had changed, that she was still essentially a boy. But now that thought had been swept away, because now she knew that even her insides had switched. She now had the capability of giving birth. Something she never thought would be possible for her. This was bigger than anybody could imagine for Kaoru. She could have children. Potentially, she could be a mother. It was as exhilarating as it was terrifying.

"Did you get through the night all right?" Haruhi asked as Kaoru walked over to her with Hikaru in tow. They were once again in the third music room, about to start club activities. The brunette still didn't know what was going on with them, the other hosts had been very confused on the day of their birthday, but Haruhi thought it better not to question it.

"Yeah." Both twins answered simultaneously. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other. It had been awhile since they had spoken in synch, it was comforting and jolting at the same time.

Haruhi smiled and turned to her bag, pulling out a flat padded square of something that was wrapped in plastic. "Here, I brought a pad for you to use for today. It has wings, so hopefully it won't fall off. Oh there's instructions on how to fit it on the plastic."

Kaoru took the pad curiously and looked at it. "Thank you. How long does a period last?"

"Everybody's different." Haruhi explained. "It could be three days, or as long as a week, it really just depends on the person."

Kaoru nodded and slipped the pad in her pocket. "You get them until you get to about your fourties don't you? She remembered that from sex ed, and she remembered thinking that girls had it rough.

Haruhi nodded. "Yep, sucks."

"Thank god I'm a boy." Hikaru declared, earning a glare from both girls. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a girl!"

"It's okay, you're just a dumb boy after all." Kaoru countered, smirking evilly at her brother. She hadn't lost her mischievousness that made her a little devil.

"Like you can talk." Hikaru reflected with an equally evil smirk.

Both twins looked at each other for a few seconds silently before Hikaru chuckled. "Actually, you can, you've always been a girl!"

"Hikaru!" She was so sick of Hikaru calling her a girl, even though she was one. It didn't make much sense but it ticked her off something shocking anyway. "I'm going to go put this on," she indicated to her pocket, which held the pad "be back in a few minutes."

Hikaru and Haruhi watched as Kaoru walked away, and out of the music room presumably to the nearest toilets. Across the room Kyouya and Tamaki leaned against the wall, Tamaki with his arms crossed over his chest and Kyouya with his notebook open in his hand, looking on from their vantage point, each boy appearing equally uneasy, but perhaps for different reasons.

"Do you get the feeling that Kaoru and Haruhi have gotten closer, or is it just me?" Tamaki asked, watching as Hikaru sat down beside Haruhi and started talking with her.

"Probably, it's only logical since they're both female now. I think Kaoru should be being more careful though, she'll get found out soon." Kyouya commented inauspiciously.

Tamaki threw his head to the side, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "I'm happy my daughter is getting is other female friends, but I feel upset about it for some reason as well." He still hadn't gotten rid of the notion that Haruhi was his daughter. He also couldn't figure out what he felt about the whole situation since Kaoru had switched genders.

"If this effects business, Kaoru will pay the price." Kyouya muttered ominously, scribbling something into his black book.

"I need to get her attention again." The blond proclaimed, ideas of how to win Haruhi over circling through his head. This would not do, Haruhi was his!

"I need to keep a watch on Kaoru." Kyouya asserted, snapping his notebook shut. He had a bad feeling in his gut that something was going to go wrong.

Both boys turned to each other. "Well, guess we should get ready for club activities." And they both went to prepare for the ladies that were sure to be arriving soon.

* * *

Kaoru walked into the boys toilets and pulled the pad out of her pocket to inspect it. Haruhi was right, it did have instructions on how to put it on, and luckily it didn't look too complicated. Kaoru was too focused on the pad to notice a boy walk out of one of the cubicles as she passed, and watch wide eyed as Kaoru walked into a cubicle of her own with a pad in hand. The boy blinked repetitively for a few seconds before walking over to the sinks and beginning to wash his hands.

The boy wash just finishing up when Kaoru walked out of the toilet, this time with no pad in hand, and went to throw something in the bin next to the paper towel dispenser. The boy gasped in shock and was startled when Kaoru finally noticed him and shot him a smile. "Hello." Kaoru greeted politely, being used to people staring at her.

The boy didn't reply, and instead turned and fled from the toilets leaving Kaoru alone and very disconcerted as she began to wash her hands for good measure. The younger twin looked at the spot where the boy had just been and frowned. "That was weird…" but with a shrug went back to what she was doing. "Oh well."

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

Oh my, I think I may have a new favourite chapter here. It's always fun to write the twins freaking out, and I also like Tamaki and Kyouya's conversation where they were both talking about completely different things. Ah yes, only something best and weirdest friends can do xD

While I'm here, I did an AMV on the twins (not related to Pretty Boy) because I was stuck at home sick and have always wanted to try it. It's the first one I've ever made, and I had fun making it :D The song I used I think really matches Kaoru's perspective on things, watch it and tell me what you think!

Here's a link: h-t-t-p : / / w-w-w . you-tube . c-o-m / watch?v=faWdbrsF4P0&feature=g-all-lik

As always, remove the hyphens and spaces :p

Kaoru: Why me?  
Me: Because the story's about you.  
Kaoru: But a period?  
Me: A women has to go through this every month, you'll find out how horrific it feels soon enough.  
Kaoru: I don't want to know…  
Me: Neither did we, but we all have no choice. Nobody wants to bleed for a week every month, trust me.  
Kaoru: Oh, I believe you.  
Me: Poor baby, you'll learn to accept it soon enough.  
Kaoru: *groans*


	12. Rumour Has It

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 12 – Rumour Has It**

Sometimes women hold from a young age that they will never have children. Others say they definitely will. Kaoru, as fate would have it, never thought about _actually _giving birth, since before the current time she was not able to get impregnated. It was the most prolific thing on her mind right now. She was capable of bringing new life into the world, a fact that she could hardly process. Secretly she had always wanted children, a fact she had never even told Hikaru; the main reason being is that Kaoru had always imagined being the _mother _to her children rather than the father. That's right. Even as a boy, though she had never tried to envision herself going through the act of pushing a baby out, mainly because up until this point she physically couldn't. She had pictured herself as a girl: breastfeeding her babies, washing them, tucking them in to sleep. This was a concept way too weird for most people to understand however, so she never mentioned it. You could say in a way Kaoru had always wanted to be a girl, for she had certainly always wanted to be a mother. Now that dream was possible. And Kaoru, try as she might, just could not get that notion through her head.

"I can have babies." Kaoru whispered to herself disbelievingly.

"You've said that about five times this morning." Hikaru remarked facetiously from over at his bed where he was shoving books into his bag, his back turned to her. "And we've only been awake for half an hour."

Kaoru's eyes narrowed and slid over to Hikaru's direction. "Like you wouldn't be gobsmacked if you could suddenly give birth."

"I probably wouldn't be as happy about it as you seem to be." Hikaru retorted. The twins were hanging out to tell each other their true feelings, but neither could get passed that hurdle of actually beginning. Like they say, the first step is always the hardest. As a result the tension between them was so thick you could probably cut it with a knife.

Kaoru decided to ignore Hikaru and go back to her current task: pulling her pants on. They were talking again, but they were hardly on good terms. That air of irritation towards each other over being angry for still unclear reasons clung strongly to the atmosphere around the two of them. Kaoru couldn't meet Hikaru's eyes because certain thoughts that had been playing on her mind were making it very awkward for her.

Here's another strange thought Kaoru had always had. Where she had pictured herself as being a mother to her babies, she had pictured Hikaru as being the father. This had always freaked her out, again hence why she had never told him about her little fantasies. All those hours of flirting with her brother must have done peculiar things to her head. Hikaru was her twin and he would make a very good father, just not to _her_ children. Kaoru could envision it so clearly though, her and Hikaru living in their own house, the sound of little feet padding along the floors, the two of them smiling and kissing as they watched their little ones play happily in the gardens – but that could never be so, because things just didn't work that way. No matter how pretty the picture in Kaoru's head was, it would never be reality; there's a reason they called fantasies like this one dreams.

Hikaru shoved the last book in his bag with more force than was probably necessary. He was having his own thoughts about Kaoru's recent predicament. Hikaru wouldn't say that he never wanted children, truth be told he had never thought about it; but really, who in their right mind thinks about having children when they're still a teenager? Hikaru didn't count Kaoru as being in her right mind, because he knew anybody related to him had to have mental issues. All hereditary mental problems aside though, the fact still remained that he himself was now thinking about it. Fatherhood seemed like some distant fantasy to him. Hikaru a father? Would he be able to deal with that kind of responsibility if it was ever presented to him? What about the biggest question though; if he was in love with Kaoru, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kaoru, would he want to have babies with Kaoru? He supposed eventually he would, it only seemed right that that should be the natural course of events: fall in love, get married, buy a house, and finally: start a family. The prospect was unnerving though. Before this Hikaru had never even thought past his graduation from high school, everything else beyond that seemed irrelevant to the here and now – which is where he preferred to stay. Kaoru was always the one to think ahead, not him. So the idea of having a house, having kids, _having a life with Kaoru_ was as overwhelming as it was, well, _nice_; Because if Hikaru admitted it to himself he did want those things, with all his heart.

It's a shame neither twin could hear the others thoughts; because if they could then perhaps the mood would have lightened. School beckoned however, so even though both twins were contemplating the future, no matter which way you looked at it, it really wasn't the right time to start getting clucky.

"Hikaru, hurry up!" Kaoru whined, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Hikaru to finish getting dressed.

Hikaru blew away a piece of fringe that had fallen into his eyes. "If you can find some socks for me then I will hurry up!" He snapped irritably. He just couldn't find any, and they were the last thing he needed to finish getting dressed.

With a huff, Kaoru walked over to a set of drawers, pulled a drawer open, thrust her hand in, ripped out a pair of socks and threw them into Hikaru's lap, who was sitting on the ground next to his shoes. "Now, hurry up." She ordered stubbornly.

Hikaru sighed and slipped his socks on. Damned if he knew how Kaoru found some so quickly: she really was turning into a girl. After a few minutes he had his shoes on as well, and he was ready to go. Kaoru was itching to leave and almost ran down the stairs as they walked down to the front doors.

"What's got you so hyped today?" Hikaru asked, looking down at Kaoru who was now already at the bottom of the staircase while he was still only halfway there.

Kaoru shrugged. "I'm just in a good mood." The real reason was her little fantasies, which were currently swirling around in her head and filling her with happiness and excitement. It would be interesting to see how excited she got about periods when she went through them every month for a year.

Deciding that it wasn't worth probing into, Hikaru satisfied himself with Kaoru's answer and walked the rest of the way down the stairs to meet Kaoru at the bottom. And so, the Hitachiin twins set off for another long day of school and hosting at Ouran Academy.

* * *

"_Have you heard…_"

"_The Hitachiins…_"

"_I heard they were…"_

"_Is it true…_"

"_It can't be…_"

Hikaru and Kaoru sat in their normal seats in class 1A. They were feeling awkward. When they walked in the room everybody had been whispering, and they had caught their name in the gossip. The unnerving thing was that after they sat down the whispering just increased and continued. This couldn't be good. Usually if people were whispering about them it was after a particularly squee-worthy performance in the club, and Hikaru and Kaoru didn't care; but no such thing had happened recently. That could only mean one thing: rumours.

"Hikaru, what did you do?" Kaoru asked quietly, sending her brother a scowl.

"What did I do?" Hikaru repeated incredulously, "What did _you_ do?"

As Kaoru was about to respond, Haruhi appeared with her books looking none to happy about something. The twins followed her with their eyes as she took her usual spot in between them and started opening her books, readying herself for the lesson.

"Haruhi, what did we do?" They asked in unison, simultaneously turning to her at the same time.

Haruhi looked up from the books she was laying out and sighed. "Kaoru, you should have been more careful."

Kaoru sat up and frowned. "Me?"

"Wasn't me." Hikaru mumbled, eyeing Kaoru closely.

The younger twin bit her lip in thought. What had she done that was gossip-worthy throughout the entire school? Because it _was_ the entire school: there had even been whispers and glances as she and Hikaru walked down the hall to their classroom. She couldn't remember doing anything scandalous or shocking lately. Unless this was something that she herself did not realise she had done. It had to be something pretty big though if it was already circling the entirety of Ouran Academy.

Then it hit her. Her mouth fell open and her face turned dead white. That boy in the toilets – he had seen her. No wonder why he was looking at her so strangely, a male had just walked in to the toilets with a pad. Not something you usually saw. Of course he would have immediately assumed… and then he would have run out to tell everybody. It was a well known fact that many boys in the school were jealous of the hosts, because they got all the female attention, so a lot of them would simply jump at the chance to sabotage Hikaru and Kaoru's reputation, along with any of the other hosts'. That meant that the whole school thought-

"The Hitachiin brothers are actually girls!" A girl yelped in surprise a few seats away from the host trio, only to get hastily shushed by all her friends immediately after. "Oh, sorry!" she whispered, quieting herself down again.

Hikaru groaned and bashed his head against the table. "Not again!" He rolled his head over on the desk to face Kaoru. "Why do I have to be your identical twin?" he grumbled sardonically.

Kaoru cringed and buried her face in her hands. "What am I going to do? Kyouya is going to kill me!"

"I suppose saying 'Keep Calm and Carry On' wouldn't be very helpful in this situation." Haruhi remarked cynically.

"No, it wouldn't." The twins rebutted instantly.

The Hitachiin's lamenting got cut off abruptly as a mass of fangirl fantasies and moe madness known all to well to them by the name of Renge Houshakuji bounced up with an air of urgency a bit more prominent that the usual. "Is it true? Are you guys really girls?" She demanded, wasting no time and cutting the crap efficiently as Renge always seemed to do.

"It's hard to explain." Kaoru muttered, glancing at her brother who was still moping with his head on the table. "But let's just say it's half-true."

"Half true?" Renge blinked. "So what, one of you is a girl and the other one isn't?"

Kaoru snapped back around to Renge surprised. "Yeah, but how did you guess correctly so quickly?"

Renge shrugged. "You read as many Yaoi and Genderbender manga's as me, and even the craziest things become plausible."

Hikaru lifted his head and turned to Kaoru, pointing a finger a Renge. "_This _right here is the reason I was so surprised and freaked out about you reading Yaoi the other night."

Renge and Haruhi both turned to Kaoru in milliseconds flat. "_You _read _Yaoi_?"

If it was possible, Kaoru's face paled even more as Renge started going on about how 'moe' and hot boys reading Yaoi was. "Oh, for the love of god…"

* * *

The look on Kyouya's face as the twins walked into the third music room that day was enough to make everybody in the room's blood run cold. He was not happy, in any sense. He just knew that something was going to go wrong, he could feel it. And look at what happened – little miss he-she got found out, and hey presto: the Hitachiin brothers turned into the Hitachiin sisters overnight. Fabulous. Just absolutely freaking fabulous.

"What did you do?" Kyouya hissed, rounding on Kaoru almost instantly as she and Hikaru stepped into the room.

"I was holding a pad in the boys toilets, there was one guy in there who saw me. Frick, one guy! One guy!" Kaoru rubbed her fists into her skull. "ONE. FUCKING. GUY."

"I told you to be covert. Now what am I going to do? What happens if the girls loose interest in you and Hikaru? A Third of our profits will disappear. I hope you're happy Hitachiin." Kyouya chided, no mercy whatsoever in his tone.

"Hey, it was a freak accident! Wouldn't you be a bit out of it if you found out you were bleeding from your unmentionables and suddenly had the capability of giving birth?" Hikaru snapped, anger bubbling up in him. How dare Kyouya speak to Kaoru like this, it wasn't her fault. None of this was her fault. It hadn't been her fault that she had suddenly woken up as a girl, it hadn't been her fault when she had gotten something that every woman gets, and it was certainly not her fault if people were so shallow that they stopped liking the twins just because of their gender, thus rendering the club's funds a third short. No, if anything it was Kyouya's fault for being such a money grubbing prick.

"Being 'out of it' isn't good enough. The whole school now thinks you're not the gender you're supposed to be. This will either make profits skyrocket from its oddity, or it will make profits crash." Kyouya backhanded, starting to make calculations in his black notebook. He'd be damned if the Host Club went broke and he didn't pull out every stop he could to try and prevent it.

"Oh, so you admit that this could actually be a good thing?" Hikaru retorted, taking a step forward. "Make up your mind, be a scrooge or be a friend!"

"I'm only being mindful of the strict budget we have."

"What you're doing is being a right asshole!"

Kaoru grimaced. She was happy Hikaru was sticking up for her, but not happy about all the yelling going on. She already had a headache, and this was just giving her an anxiety attack. "Guys, please-"

"Hush, Kaoru. Brother and Mother are talking." Hikaru snapped, cutting his sister off before she could say anything.

"I thought I was the Evil Low Blood Pressure Lord, doesn't that kind of mean that being an asshole is part of my repertoire?" Kyouya muttered. He was getting bored of this argument.

Hikaru growled. "Stop throwing French around, you're not Milord!"

"HOSTS!"

Hikaru, Kaoru, Haruhi and Kyouya's eyes all turned to Tamaki, who had just entered the room. The blonde walked up to the group and stood between the Otori and Hitachiin who were previously having it out. "Before anybody says anything, I've already heard the rumours about Hikaru and Kaoru. It's bad enough that the whole school is talking about them, they don't need their own friends turning on them as well. So Kyouya, stop thinking about club profits for a moment and look at the situation objectively; I know you'll be able to find a way out of this if you put those concerns aside for now. Hikaru, calm down and take Kaoru to prepare for the act, Hosting activities will go on as usual. Remember: we are a family, and family stick together no matter what!"

Kyouya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and nodded once. "Very well. I'll go and find out more about these rumours, and see if we can work with them." With that the ebony-haired boy turned and walked away to his laptop, leaving the rest of the hosts staring after him.

Hikaru huffed and grabbed Kaoru's hand. "Come on, let's practice." He spoke under his breathe, pulling Kaoru over to their usual seat.

Haruhi turned to Tamaki, who was watching the twins and Kyouya walk away. "You're acting more mature than usual, but why do they listen to you so easily?" It was still a mystery to her how Tamaki could be ridiculed so much by the rest of the club, but how he somehow had control of them nonetheless.

"Kyouya gets carried away with the success of the club sometimes, it's a power thing. He's still hell-bent on one-upping his brothers and father. Only now just to prove he can, rather than to take over the family business. He knows this, and he trusts my judgement. Although I'll probably have to deal with him later." Tamaki cringed jokingly at Haruhi, who chuckled. "As for Hikaru though, he and Kaoru respect me even though they don't show it. That and Hikaru he has been working on his anger management lately, so he's making a conscious effort to let things go."

Haruhi raised her eyebrows. "You surprise me Tamaki-senpai. Whenever you become so insightful like this it's quite a shock, I tend to forget you can be since you're usually so temperamental. You know, I really like this side of you." The brunette shot the blond an unexpected smile.

Tamaki blushed and turned away. "Of course you like me, I am your father." He mumbled, flattered and embarrassed. Haruhi was just so cute when she smiled!

Haruhi's face fell and she looked away from the host king. "Rich idiot…" she muttered before she started to walk away from Tamaki who jolted and narrowed his eyes at her words.

"Hey!" He yelped, following behind her.

Over at the twins' loveseat, Hikaru and Kaoru sat lounging. Kaoru was sitting on the end, while Hikaru had somehow ended up lying across the couch with his head in Kaoru's lap. "I'm not a girl." He grumbled, staring defiantly at the ceiling.

Kaoru sighed. "I know."

Hikaru rolled his eyes to look at Kaoru, who was staring straight ahead. "It's going to be difficult to explain this to the girls."

"I know."

"They probably won't just accept it like the club did."

"I know."

"You're still sexy no matter which gender you are though."

"I kno- hey!" Kaoru looked down and hit Hikaru playfully on the head. 'Stop being so full of yourself!"

Hikaru frowned. "How am I being full of myself?"

"You look exactly like me, so by complimenting my appearance, especially when we're both wearing exactly the same thing, you're complimenting yourself." Kaoru explained knowingly.

Hikaru closed his eyes. _But you are sexy!_Was what he wanted to say, now wasn't the right place or time though. He never understood why Kaoru didn't fight back, if it was him he would have ripped Kyouya a new one – heck, he almost did! He wasn't afraid of him, not completely anyway. Kyouya might seem all dark and menacing, but Hikaru knew he wasn't anything out of the ordinary. One swift knee to the happy-sacks and he'd drop like anyone else.

Kaoru looked at Hikaru who appeared to be sleeping on top of her. What were they going to do? If the girls didn't like this than Kyouya would surely go demon lord on them. Tamaki had defused the situation this time, but the next they might not be so lucky. How could she have been so careless? This was a situation that could have been avoided if she had just been a bit more careful. It was too late to brood over things now though. She could only hope that the girls wouldn't be disgusted with or shun her. How they would possibly believe that she was the only female Hitachiin was another hurdle; however if Renge believed maybe there was still hope. Fangirls were crazy.

"I'm opening the doors." Kyouya announced, walking over to them.

Kaoru snapped out of her reverie quickly, to find that Hikaru was now sitting up next to her. The other hosts had all taken their places, it was time for business to commence. Kaoru sucked in a breath and sat up straight. Forcing a fake smile and swallowing her doubts for the time being, she turned to Hikaru.

"Well, here goes."

Hikaru smiled back at her and took her hand in his as Kyouya opened the doors and greeted the girls who were waiting anxiously to come in. Girls started to shuffle in and go to their designated hosts. Hosting activities had begun.

"Hikaru-kun!"

"Kaoru-kun!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

Mori: Hmm…  
Me: indeed  
Mori: This doesn't look good.  
Me: tension is building.  
Mori: Hm.

One swift knee to the happy-sacks and he'll drop like anyone else – mwahahaah I stole that line from another show I love – Red Dwarf xD It popped into my head and I had to squeeze it in.


	13. You Go Girlfriend!

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 13 – You Go Girlfriend!**

Hikaru and Kaoru turned to see a hoard of fangirls swarming over to them. They simultaneously gulped in nervousness.

"Hello ladies." Hikaru greeted, smiling at the girls.

"Hello Hitachiin-san." A few of the girls replied. They didn't know which twin was which, so they always addressed Hikaru and Kaoru by their last name when they were together.

"Would you like some tea?" Kaoru asked politely, letting go of Hikaru's hand and bending down to pick up the teapot that was resting on the coffee table in front of them ready for use.

"Are the rumours true? Are you really girls?" A girl with brown hair and brown eyes asked. The girls around her gasped in shock; they had all been too afraid to voice the question, although they were all equally curious about it.

Kaoru froze in position, half bent over towards the teapot. She had been expecting this, but not quite so soon or so abruptly. Her eyes stayed focused on the teapot. What were they going to do? If they explained and the girls didn't believe them, then what? Or what if they were disgusted with Kaoru? Heaven forbid, what if they stopped coming to the host club altogether? Kyouya would be on the twins faster than you could say 'doomed'.

"If you can guess which one of us is Hikaru and which one of us is Kaoru correctly, then we'll tell you."

Kaoru's head snapped around. Hikaru turned to her with a wink. What was he up to? The girls would surely guess wrong, like they always did. That meant that they wouldn't have to tell them now, but the rumours would keep circulating the school and they'd definitely have to explain themselves at a later point. Hikaru probably didn't think of this though, he was focusing on the now.

"Hik-"

"You're Kaoru!" All the girls squawked in unison, pointing at the younger twin whose face bad broken out into a raging blush.

Hikaru turned to Kaoru with a frown. "Why did you go to say my name? You ruined it!" he huffed.

Kaoru huffed back. "You do realize that even if we didn't tell them today, we would have to tell them eventually. By doing that it would only postpone the problem."

Hikaru blinked. "Oh yeah."

The girls were hanging on the edge of their seats now; they wanted to know what was going on. From what Kaoru had just said, it sounded like there may have been some truth to the rumours that were going around. But the Hitachiin twins just couldn't be girls.

Kaoru sighed and looked at the girls. "You're not going to believe me."

Girls who were with other hosts started making their way towards the twins, their curiosity peaked as well. Kyouya's eagle eyes watched the spectacle as it unfolded from his spot across the room; his black notebook was open, ready to collect information about the scene. Tamaki, Haruhi, Honey and Mori also watched on from their stations, ready to see what was going to happen next.

Kaoru took in the scene around her. Most every girl in the room had come to hear the truth about the rumours. They were all crowded around her, expectant expressions on their faces. Taking a deep breath, Kaoru closed her eyes and let the words fall from her lips. "I'm a girl, Hikaru is not."

There was a pause, where the whole room when silent. Then suddenly the room exploded in a cacophony of sound. Shrieks of surprise, excitement and plain hysteria rang out throughout Music Room 3. Gossip started up in the same fashion an engine roars into life, loud and steady. Speaking of engines, the sound of a motor could be heard cranking into life faintly below the floor, just as a big patch of the ground opened up and a platform raised it's way upward in the middle of the room, carrying an all to familiar person.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Renge's trademark laugh resounded over the chatter, causing the girls to quiet slightly. "So Kaoru-san's secret is out? How exciting, one twin of each gender! What a simply electrifying development!"

Kaoru's eyes narrowed. "Renge, put away your platform and stop shrieking about it. Why are you so excited? You already knew anyway."

Renge jumped down off her platform as it started to recede back into the ground. "Because this makes you're act even better! Now you're not just a pair of twins with homosexual tendencies and a forbidden love, you're a boy and a girl, brother and sister, forbidden to love each other, and with the danger of accidentally getting pregnant and therefore getting caught! It's thrilling! This just means you will have to keep your love even more inconspicuous!"

Hikaru looked at Kaoru. He felt as if Renge's words were somehow wrong. Didn't that just make them like any other forbidden lovers? The homosexual twin thing was their shtick, nobody else used that gimmick except for them (that he knew of). Also, didn't fangirls tend to think yaoi was more exciting? Had everything he had learned from experience flirting with his brother been a lie? "Isn't anybody skeptical of this?" He asked incredulously, "How can you people believe this so easily?"

"Like I said before," Renge giggled "Read as many yaoi and genderbender manga's as we have, and even the strangest things become plausible!" At Renge's words there was a cheer of agreement from all the girls in the room.

Kaoru sunk into her seat. She had not been expecting all of the girls to go gaga over her like this, in fact she had expected the exact opposite. With Renge in command though she wasn't really surprised that this is the way things had turned out. In that girls mind, fangirl fantasies were pretty much reality. Kaoru really wished she could just fade away right now; she didn't need any of this.

Hikaru pursed his lips together and crossed his arms over his torso. "So you guys _like _this?" All the fangirls squealed and nodded in response to the older twins question. Shrugging, Hikaru turned to Kaoru, who was still trying to defy logic and dissolve into the couch, grabbed her chin and tilted it up so that Kaoru was looking him straight in the eyes, albeit shocked. "Kaoru, my precious little _sister_, I want to always protect you because you are my one true love. You are the most fragile thing I own, besides my own heart."

Kaoru looked up at Hikaru with half-closed eyelids. "Hikaru…"

The fangirls positively shrieked in ecstasy at the sight of the new 'brotherly and sisterly' love that was being presented to them, Renge at the head of the pack with love-hearts in her eyes. Hikaru gulped at Kaoru's expression, the act had been getting harder and harder to keep up with these emotions coursing through him. He had to use all of his self-restraint to keep from leaning those last few centimeters closer. He remembered the feel of Kaoru's lips from that accidental kiss, and he yearned to taste them again.

Kaoru stared into her brother's eyes. Oh how she could stare into them forever if she were permitted. Thoughts of the kiss and the dream that she had had ran into her mind. She was now certain of her feelings and knew more than ever how she felt about Hikaru; she wanted him more than anything. Her heart beat faster when she was near him, butterflies started go hectic in her stomach and her mind almost turned to complete fuzz, and most importantly when she was doing the act with him she felt like she was on cloud nine. She felt like she had always known in some part of her mind really.

Both twins realized the trance they were in and abruptly pulled apart before things got even weirder. The girls around them giggled at their flustered expressions. The clients for other hosts returned to their original places now that the excitement had died down somewhat and Renge disappeared, presumably to promote the new gimmick that the twin's situation had created. Across the room Kyouya smirked and noted something down in his black notebook. "This could be quite profitable…" He commented obliquely.

Hosting activities continued as usual.

* * *

Kaoru took her usual seat next to Kassanoda in Literature. Said redheaded boy looked up at her questioningly as she sat down next to him without a word. "So, you're a girl?"

Kaoru sighed. "It would appear that way, yes."

"You Hitachiin twins really like to fool people don't you?"

Kaoru turned to Kassanoda and raised an eyebrow. "You don't know the half of it."

Before any more could be said on the subject, a bunch of girls came up to the table Kaoru and Kassanoda were sitting at, blushing nervously. Kaoru looked up at them with a smile, she was obviously used to girls coming up and talking to her, as was Kassanoda who had acquired quite a fan following of his own; although he looked more bored than anything else as he took in the sight of the girls. "Is there anything I can help you with, ladies?" she asked, watching them expectantly.

The girls glanced at each other shyly before one with blonde hair at the front started to speak. "We were wondering, Kaoru-san, if we could be your girlfriends!"

Kaoru blinked. "But I'm a girl."

The girls shook their heads. "No, we mean girlfriends as in 'friends' it's what girls call their friends! We can go shopping together! And cook together! And do each other's makeup!" The girls started giggling excitedly and nodding in concurrence.

Kaoru's eyes widened. She remembered her excitement when she had gone shopping with Haruhi, but she didn't particularly want to do those sorts of things with girls that she didn't know well. It was embarrassing! She once was a guy you know, it was a bit much to take in all of a sudden. "Ah… I don't know about that…"

"Oh please Kaoru-san, it will be so much fun!" The girls insisted, moving closer to the table.

"Uhh…" But it was too late, the girls were already playing with Kaoru's hair, exclaiming how soft and thick it was and how good it would look if she dyed it black. A few girls commented on how pretty Kaoru's eyes were, and how just a bit of eyeliner would really make them pop out. One even recommended a little bit of blush. Kaoru mentally groaned, how did things turn out like this?

While Kaoru was getting fawned over by her new 'girlfriends' Kassanoda watched on amused. He didn't question Kaoru because she never questioned him, and he thought it was only fair to trust her. At least the girls weren't latching onto him; it could get annoying that's for sure. In his head, he agreed with the eyeliner thing, it would really make Kaoru's eyes stand out even more. He would never tell anybody though. Looking down at the table, he spied another poem Kaoru had written, this one was shorter than some of the other ones. He slid the paper over and had a read of it.

I wish I knew how to disappear completely  
I wish I knew how to slip away discretely  
I wish I knew how to no longer be a part of this  
I wish I knew how to not exist.

Kassanoda chuckled. How ironic. _I know this feeling _he thought to himself. Oh yes, he knew it all too well. "So do I, sometimes." He mumbled under his breathe, slipping the paper back over to Kaoru, who was still trying to fight away the girls.

"But there's no way to slip away discretely this time."

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

**Oh, mental block for this chapter. Sorry if it stinks haha hope it does the job though. But haha! I fooled you all, it turned out better than expected! Mwahahaha I am deceptive…**

**Renge:**I want to draw a doujinshi about this, it's perfect!  
**Me:** You do that Renge.  
**Renge:** OHOHOHOHOHO! My sweet Kyouya will be so proud!  
**Me:** If you make him money, sure!  
**Renge:** Yay!  
**Me:** *sigh* Fangirls. (ignores that fact that I am fangirl myself).


	14. The Golden eyed Monster

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 14 – The Golden-eyed Monster**

Something wasn't right here. There was something very off about this picture. These stupid fangirls could _not _be taking Kaoru away from him, especially not after he had just started working his way back into her good books. There was no way in hell that he could be being prevented from trying to talk to his sister because life just couldn't possibly be that unfair.

Three days it had been since Kaoru's secret had been revealed, and since that time the younger twin had been mobbed with girls trying to become her 'friends' so they could do things like give her a makeover and take her clothes shopping. If there was one thing Hikaru knew about Kaoru, and he knew most things about Kaoru, it was that said twin hated clothes shopping unless there was a good reason for it; for example, if Kaoru had an outfit in mind that she wanted, or if she wanted experimental clothes for designs she was helping their mother with, or if she actually needed new clothes: although their mother often provided them with new clothes she'd designed herself. Shopping for fun was not fun at all to Kaoru; it had been very surprising to Hikaru when she had been so excited on the day she went shopping with Haruhi. Of course they did go to the commoners mall, which added an element of curiosity to the mix that wasn't there when they went to higher class shopping complexes.

That wasn't the point though, the point was that Hikaru had been trying to pry Kaoru away from these girls so he could sit down and talk everything out with her, but he just couldn't do it! The girls outnumbered him and created a barrier between himself and his twin. The only time Hikaru could talk to Kaoru was in the host club, and at those times they were performing their new 'brotherly and sisterly love' act, which mind you had taken off like a storm that Kyouya had pounced on and already created a range of brand new merchandise to support the new gimmick with; as well as Renge who apparently was working on a doujinshi about it. Even at home Hikaru had a hard time starting conversations with Kaoru, because many girls had forced the poor younger twin to give them her phone number and so they were now continually calling her.

To put it simply, this seemed to be a situation in which Hikaru just could not win.

"They're dangerous, aren't they?" an all too familiar voice commented as Hikaru sat at a cafeteria table during lunch, staring a few tables across from him where Kaoru was, who was surrounded by a swarm of girls.

Turning around, Hikaru came to face Tamaki who took a seat beside him and was gazing in the same direction he had been, thoughtfully. "More like extremely inconvenient." Hikaru mumbled as he watched the blonde sit down and pick up his fork.

Tamaki chuckled and scooped up a bit of the scalloped potato that was on his plate. "Beauty like ours is a blessing and a curse, is it not?"

"Stop romanticizing everything." Hikaru riposted, fed up with everyone and everything. This was just what he needed, the idiot king coming and giving him a lecture on the positives and negatives of being drop-dead gorgeous.

The blond stuck his fork in his mouth and chewed silently for a moment before swallowing and responding. "I'm not romanticizing anything, that's already been done for me."

Hikaru blinked. This couldn't mean that Tamaki knew about his feelings for Kaoru. In a way Hikaru had been half expecting that Mori would catch on fairly quickly, and thereby vicariously Honey as well. Kyouya never missed anything, he most probably would have been the first to realize, maybe even before Hikaru himself did, and Haruhi wouldn't have been far behind him; but Tamaki was a dunce. He was the one person who wouldn't know a person's feelings if they snuck up on him and bit him on the bum: he as more oblivious than a three year old when it came to these types of things. So if he knew then Hikaru must have been very obvious. The older twin wasn't going to let on that he thought that though. "I don't know what you mean."

Tamaki glanced over in the direction of Kaoru again, before fixing his gaze on Hikaru once more. "You're pining for Kaoru."

Hikaru shot up like a firecracker. "I am not!"

"It's perfectly normal you know, you and Kaoru did spend nearly every waking moment together for the most part of your life. I know it would be hard for me to let go of somebody I'm so accustomed to having next to me twenty-four seven." Tamaki remarked. His violet eyes bore into Hikaru with sincerity and compassion.

Ah, so that was it. Tamaki just thought that Hikaru missed Kaoru as a brother. While a part of Hikaru did long for his Kaoru to come back to him because he hated being separated, the feeling of jealousy that permeated through his being every time he looked at Kaoru with those girls was dominant and easily overshadowed everything else. It was his place beside Kaoru, nobody else's: Why then should he give up that privilege to these inconsequential fangirls? Only he deserved that spot, he'd had it so long that his behind had made a permanent butt imprint on it, it was as good as having his name his name printed in gigantic embellished letters over it! And yet here he was, not in that spot, but across the room sulking like a baby with the king of idiots trying to psychoanalyse him.

"You're silence tells me I'm correct."

Hikaru snapped back to reality. Tamaki was smirking at him for some reason. "Please explain to me how you came to that conclusion."

Tamaki shrugged. "I'm being optimistic. You know, I think you should be too."

The older twin rolled his eyes. "It's hard to be as optimistic as you, milord."

"Not really." Tamaki countered, brushing some of his golden tresses out of his eyes. "It's just a matter of perspective. Try and see the glass as full as opposed to seeing it half empty."

Hikaru pouted. "I'm a realist. I'm the one who realizes the cup has actually been filled with piss."

Tamaki's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?"

Hikaru's golden eyes dimmed. A sigh escaped his lips as he cut a piece of his barramundi* off and pushed it onto his fork. "Let's put it this way, it's hard to look on the bright side when the bright side is on the other side of the room having fun without you."

"How do you know she's having fun?"

Good question, Hikaru didn't actually know if Kaoru was enjoying herself. In fact he highly doubted she was but the point still remained. "I don't."

"You should never make assumptions." Tamaki admonished. "When you assume bad things, you feel bad, and that in turn makes bad things happen. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."**

The Hitachiin looked down at his half-eaten fish. Tamaki's words were probably true, at least they seemed logical enough. If only Hikaru had a better control of his emotions, he might have been able to follow that advice. But at this point he was far beyond that, he had already made many assumptions that had gotten him in the shits. Tamaki was too late. "Where's Kyouya? Don't you usually hang around with him at lunch."

"Kyouya's talking with a teacher about the score he got on the latest math test we had. And frankly, you looked like you needed a friend." Tamaki elucidated. He may have been a bit of a stooge, and he may have been an absolutely hopeless romantic that was a sucker for anything cute but there was one thing you could never fault him on, he was a good friend.

Hikaru was about to respond that the only thing he needed was an AK-47 and some ammunition and his problem would be solved, when he caught sight of Haruhi in his peripheral vision. He didn't notice that Tamaki had also seen her, and both boys turned around to see what she was doing. The brunette didn't so much as glance in their direction, instead she walked over to Kaoru and her flock of followers, and sat down beside her. The older twins eyes almost burst into flames. Fangirls were one thing, but Haruhi was a whole other cup of tea. She was supposed to be both of ther friends, not just Kaoru's! If anything, she should have come over and sat with Hikaru, he was the one that was alone! Well, except for Tamaki, but Hikaru wasn't counting Tamaki as company at the moment.

Meanwhile, Tamaki was having his own thoughts on the subject. Haruhi couldn't be more interested in Kaoru than him right? He was her father! It seemed that as days passed his already weak connection with Haruhi was progressively yielding under the strain of this new preoccupation with the younger twin. He had to win her back to his side, at any cost. It was just a matter of planning the perfect way to do it. This couldn't go on any longer, Kaoru had Hikaru, he wanted Haruhi. Somehow it felt like a very passionate desire, one that a father seemingly shouldn't have for his daughter and this made Tamaki uneasy, but he brushed it off as determination to get Haruhi back. Everyone else be damned, she was _his _little girl.

Both boys shot up from their seats at the same time. "Oh hell no!" They barked in unison. They looked at each other in shock for a moment before turning back to the two girls across the room.

"Seems like we're thinking the same thing, I can only hope you don't have your eyes on Kaoru because I will have to kill you if that's the case." Hikaru muttered darkly, narrowing his eyes at the scene before him.

"Indeed." Tamaki replied, before he realized what he was agreeing about and turned to Hikaru waving his hands madly and shaking his head, indicating he did not mean what it sounded like. "I mean I _don't _have my eyes on Kaoru! She's all yours, I want Haruhi! I swear mon ami!"

Hikaru slid his eyes over to Tamaki. "Hmm, sure."

The Frenchman didn't seem to be appeased by that response, but he didn't push it any further. "You know I can't help but think that you seem more jealous of all the attention Kaoru's getting then you should be."

Hikaru's cheeks darkened, and he had to fight the urge to slap a hand to his forehead. My god this guy was an idiot when it came to love, then again Hikaru had to admit he wasn't much better. How was he supposed to respond to that though? "I don't like being away from Kaoru."

"You're going to have to go your separate ways one day you know." Tamaki apprised. Damn fool he was, he had a point. Too bad it wasn't completely relevant at this point in time.

"Shut up!" Hikaru snapped, pointing over at Kaoru and Haruhi. "I don't like those girls stealing _my _spot beside Kaoru. I should always be next to her so I can protect her, if I'm over here what can I do?"

Tamaki smiled. "That's sweet. People need to learn to look after themselves though, but if they're always shielded by another person that will never happen. You need to become independent, so does Kaoru."

For gods sake, Tamaki was spewing more philosophical advise today than a bloody fortune telling machine. Hikaru knew they needed to become independent, it didn't mean they had to separate completely though, and he never intended to. There had to be some way to distinguish themselves without changing the whole dynamic of their relationship. Maybe Hikaru would dye his hair black or something, that would make them look different. Yeah, that sounded good. But he would think about that later. "What the hell is with you? You sound like a wannabe Confucius. Are you The Sphinx from _Mystery Men_ or something? What will you be saying next, 'if you don't master your rage, your rage will become your master?" Hikaru spat.

Tamaki put a hand to his chin. "Well actual-"

"Oh my gods, shut up, please!" Hikaru begged exasperatedly. Seriously, why?

Tamaki pouted. "I'm only trying to help."

"You're not helping." Hikaru retorted.

"…"

"…"

Tamaki bowed his head in despair. He truly was only wanting to help his friend.

Hikaru sighed. "Gomen***, I'm just so agitated right now."

Tamaki's head snapped back up and he giggled. "I can tell. But don't despair mon ami!" suddenly he was his normal self again, throwing an arm around Hikaru who's expression had become deadpan at Tamaki's burst back into what for him was 'normality'. "We will get our girls, or my name isn't Rene Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Suoh!"

Hikaru looked up at Tamaki. "Your name is Rene?"

Tamaki laughed. "I prefer to be called Tamaki, since it's easier for everybody here to pronounce. But yes, my first name is Rene."

Hikaru turned back around to the direction of Haruhi and Kaoru. "Huh, you learn something new everyday."

"We will get them back, I have confidence." Tamaki chirped.

Hikaru gave one of his trademark Hitachiin smirks. "Whatever you say, _Rene_."

"Tamaki is fine."

"Whatever Rene."

"I shouldn't have told you."

"Probably not."

The lyrics of 'One Way Or Another' started playing in Hikaru's mind.

One way or another I'm gonna find ya  
I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha  
One way or another I'm gonna win ya  
I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha  
One way or another I'm gonna see ya  
I'm gonna meetcha meetcha meetcha meetcha  
One day, maybe next week  
I'm gonna meetcha, I'm gonna meetcha, I'll meetcha…

One way or another he would get Kaoru back - or his name wasn't Hikaru Hitachiin.

* * *

Kaoru looked over the girls who were in front of her, at the two figures in the background that appeared to be staring at herself and Haruhi, who was sitting next to her. "Is that Hikaru and Tamaki-senpai?"

Haruhi turned and looked in the direction Kaoru was looking in. her face fell. "Yep."

"You don't think Hikaru is angry because you're here with me and not with him do you?" Kaoru mused, watching as Hikaru and Tamaki appeared to start squabbling over something.

Haruhi shook her head. "No, why would he be? He'd know that I'm trying to save you from these fangirls. I know if he could he would have done it first."

Kaoru frowned. "Hmm." She wasn't so sure. Hikaru always got worked up over stupid things. She wanted to tell him her feelings but there just hadn't been an opportunity with all these fangirls around. She knew she had to do it soon though, before things got completely out of hand.

Haruhi turned back to her homemade bento. "Really, you should have just stayed in the classroom with me, it would have been much easier."

Kaoru didn't reply. She doubted it would have been any better in a classroom, she still would have gotten swamped with girls wanting to talk to her left, right and centre. She just hoped that Hikaru wasn't taking this separation too hard. She didn't want it as much as he didn't want it. Fate seemed to have it out for them.

She would find a way to tell Hikaru soon, she had to.

* * *

_**To be Continued…**_

***Barramundi **is a type of fish, and it is delicious. It is found in the waters of Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. You can look it up on Wikipedia if you want to know more about it.

****Never make assumptions **is a real psychological cycle. I've learned first hand that you should never make assumptions because it's true, when you assume bad things, you feel bad, and then bad things happen. Lesson of the day: NEVE ASSUME ANYTHING!

*****Gomen **is 'I'm sorry' in Japanese. It is the informal way of saying it if I'm correct.

Wah, back at school again. Those two weeks went way too fast for my liking. Oh well, I will persevere to get through the rest of the year. But I have to say, only been one week back and I am pooped. I hate waking up early in the morning! But I managed to get this chapter out, which is awesome.

**Hikaru:** Why is this whole chapter basically a conversation with Milord?  
**Me: **Because it sets up the next chapter, which will hopefully give everybody a nice surprise.  
**Hikaru: **What's going to happen?  
**Me:** Nice try, you little devil. I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait.  
**Kaoru: **Will you tell me? I'm the main character, I deserve to know!  
**Me:** **whispers in Kaoru's ear** There, what do you think?  
**Kaoru:** It's definitely cute and unexpected.  
**Hikaru:** What is it?  
**Kaoru and I:** You'll find out soon enough.  
**Hikaru:** Fine, whatever.  
**Me:** Just so you know, I still love you, but you won't find out by pouting like that.  
**Hikaru:** *shrugs* It was worth a try.  
**Me:** *shakes head* This twin…


	15. The Sun and The Moon

**Chapter 15 – The Sun and The Moon**

Haruhi walked down the corridor tiredly. She had tried her hardest to help Kaoru out with all those fangirls, but the truth was she just wasn't as experienced with all that attention as Kaoru herself was. Most of her life Haruhi had lived in the background, been ignored the majority of the time; it was only since she got forced to be a host that she had become doted on by so many that she had lost count. Of course Haruhi had the power of indifference, she didn't really care about the attention she received and as a result the girls dissipated of their own accord when she wasn't participating in hosting activities. Not to say that they never hung around, but it was bearable in the sense that there weren't a billion of them surrounding her at any given moment: which was more than she could currently say for Kaoru.

Poor girl, Kaoru had really had all this thrown at her in very quick succession. She didn't have time to prepare herself mentally or physically for becoming female, or for the onslaught of attention that had been thrust upon her. Not to mention that she was obviously also having troubles with keeping her own emotions in check; in fact both twins seemed to be hiding something from each other, Haruhi noted as she rounded the last corner that would lead her to the third music room. Through her offhanded observations of the other hosts Haruhi had bore witness to the furtive glances, the touches that lasted just that bit too long to seem an act, the gazes into each others eyes that seemed to hypnotise them just a bit too realistically. It didn't take a rocket scientists to figure out the twins had feelings for each other, and while Haruhi was probably not as disturbed as she should have been about this fact, she couldn't bring herself to judge them. The twins lived in their own closed little world most of the time; they did have their moments where they appeared to be branching out to others that were once few and far between but were now numerous and more frequent, however they were still much closer to one another than anyone else. It made sense that they would fall in love with the person that had always been there. Haruhi wondered what that was like, having someone your age always there. Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like if she had a brother or sister, being an only child could get awfully lonely and boring.

That's something she had never asked Tamaki. He was an only child as well, he must have felt the same way sometimes; especially since he didn't have his mother around and he lived in the second Suoh residence by himself, not to mention his father was always out and about on business. Really, Tamaki was a lonesome person; he was more alone than she was, at least she had her dad, Tamaki had as good as nobody. He was such a social creature though; he loved being around people. He must have just gotten used to being by himself, Haruhi knew she had, it was just what happened when you had nobody else.

These thoughts swirled around in her head as she walked up to the third music rooms doors and pushed them open gently. Unlike most times when she opened the door however, there was no stream of rose petals to fly out at her, or six sinfully gorgeous boys sitting inside ready to welcome her in (well, really to welcome the other girls in). It seemed she was early for once, because as she entered the room she noticed that nobody else appeared to be there yet. Music Room 3 was eerily quiet without the hustle and bustle of the other hosts. Haruhi walked over to a table and dumped her schoolbag on it, unzipping it and reaching a hand in to fish for her Legal Studies textbook; she figured that if there was nothing else she had to do yet, she could at least get a head start on tonight's studying. This thought was quickly cut off when the sound of music suddenly started streaming through the room. Startled, Haruhi yanked her hand out of her bag and swiveled around.

There, at the piano, sat Tamaki. Haruhi had noticed that whenever Tamaki played he seemed most at peace with the world; his expression was always serene and he looked as if he was at the epitome of happiness, like the simple notes resonating from his fingertips were enough to elate him like nothing else. This time was no different, he wore a calm expression that gave the impression he was completely content pumping out his melodious sonata. Where did he come from though? Haruhi wondered. Had he always been there and she had just not seen him? That didn't usually happen to her, she normally took in her surroundings quite well. Did he even realize she was there?

"_A box of moonlight, I have with me  
A little magic to set us free  
Silvery beams rain down from above  
The colour of my eternal love…" _

Haruhi listened silently. She could have interrupted Tamaki, but his sudden break into song caused her not to. The song was soft and sweet, and Tamaki sang with such tenderness and sincerity that Haruhi could not bring herself to stop him.

"_If I am the sun  
Then you are the moon  
And I could never shine as bright  
As your __beau clair de lune_

_You light up the night  
And illuminate the sky  
You hang down low  
But you're still too high"_

Tamaki's eyes closed, seemingly letting the music take him over. The captivating melody streamed through the room - it's sound echoed by the carefully crafted acoustics created by the spaces architecture; it was a music room, after all. The tempo increased and decreased, like the sound of waves crashing into the shore. It had a calming effect on Haruhi, who still had not moved from her position staring wordlessly at the blonde.

"_If I could touch you  
My happiness would bloom  
Just to bask in the glow  
Of your beau clair de lune _

_And my love would emanate  
More brilliantly  
The most radiant sight  
That you'll ever see_

_Maybe just as bright  
As your beau clair de lune  
Mon amour, mon suel  
Ma belle lune_

_And I keep your beau clair de lune  
In a box with me  
Your love is magical  
It sets me free  
Silvery beams rain down from above  
The colour of our eternal love._

_Mon amour, mon suel  
Ma belle lune_

_My love, my only,  
My beautiful moon." _

The music faded out slowly, until silence one again prevailed. Tamaki removed his hands from the piano keys and closed the lid on them. A peaceful smile hung on his lips as he just sat for a moment, looking down at the black wooden casing that now covered the keys.

Haruhi swallowed; the atmosphere of the room was very allaying, almost as if by singing this song Tamaki had taken a great weight off his shoulders and not only that but Haruhi's shoulders as well. A feeling of relief seemed to sweep over Haruhi, although the reason and purpose of the relief escaped her. Her chocolate eyes drank in the prince as he gazed dreamily at nothing. What could he be thinking? She wondered, unconsciously stepping forward. Her feet moved of their own accord, and soon she was at the end of the piano just a few feet away from the host king.

"Tamaki-senpai-"

Tamaki jumped and flicked his head up. Immediately his cheeks flushed a rosy pink and he gasped in surprise. "H-Haruhi, what are you doing here?"

Haruhi blinked. "That song… It was beautiful."

Tamaki's cheeks darkened even more, if it was at all possible. "Song? What song? I didn't hear any song!" The host king seemed to go into hysterics for some reason. Jumping up from the piano stool, he walked over to Haruhi and chuckled, although it seemed forced. "Do you want to start getting ready? I know nobody is here yet but we can still-"

"Senpai, calm down." Haruhi cut in, making Tamaki halt his words. The brunette smiled and glanced at the piano before returning her gaze to the blonde, who looked like a beetroot at this point. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Is this song about a girl you like? Is she one of your clients?"

Tamaki turned away. "S-she isn't a client and I don't like her in the traditional sense…"

"The traditional sense?" Haruhi repeated back, bemused. "What do you mean?"

"Well I'm not _in _love with her, it would be inappropriate. I just love her, that's all." Tamaki mumbled, twiddling his thumbs uncomfortably.

The cross-dresser frowned. "Wait, what?"

"Well it would be inappropriate for a father to love his daughte-" Tamaki slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Father and daughter…" Haruhi murmured, looking even more confused.

"I've said too much." The blonde squeaked.

Then it clicked. "You can't be talking about _me_?" Haruhi queried, "AND YOU CAN'T STILL BE ON THAT FATHER/DAUGHTER THING!"

Tamaki shrunk back. "I don't know what else these feelings could be!"

The brunette sighed and walked over to the blonde, taking his hand. Tamaki didn't say anything as he let her gently lead him over to a loveseat and sit him down. Haruhi sat down beside him and turned to face him. "I'm not your daughter."

Tamaki looked down. "But-"

"No buts!" Haruhi snapped, whacking Tamaki upside the head.

"Ow!" Tamaki yelped, putting a hand to his head. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot." Haruhi answered, before grabbing the Tamaki's hand (the one that wasn't nursing his head) and pulling him forward into a soft kiss.

Tamaki's eyes shot wide open in surprise, before he let himself melt into the kiss. Softly, he wrapped his long arms around Haruhi and pulled her closer, cradling the back of her head with one hand and holding the small of her back with the other. Their lips moved slowly with each other, tenderly caressing; their breathing and heartbeats seemed to merge into one. In his mind, Tamaki smirked. Last night he had a long contemplation session about his relationship with Haruhi. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and how much all the attention Kaoru was getting off her was annoying him. He realized he wanted Haruhi no matter what, and vicariously that lead him to the conclusion of how much of an idiot he had been; he was not her father, fathers did not look at their daughters the way he looked at Haruhi. Fathers did not think of their daughters the way he thought of Haruhi. And fathers did not want to kiss their daughters like he wanted to kiss Haruhi, which was the way he was kissing her right now. Little did the brunette know, he had been waiting for her to come in to the music room specifically so he could play the song he had written for her. He loved Haruhi so much it wasn't even funny. At the moment he was on cloud twenty. He told Hikaru he would they would get their girls. Mission accomplished on his end. Now it was Hikaru's turn.

Haruhi pulled back to catch her breathe, and looked up at Tamaki. "And that-" she gasped, still trying to calm her breathing down, "Is for being my annoyingly bright sun."

Tamaki laughed. Looking into Haruhi's huge nut-brown eyes he smiled warmly. "Je T'aime, Haruhi."

Before Haruhi could respond, the music rooms doors opened and both hosts jumped apart, flying to opposite ends of the loveseat. Kaoru walked in, looking exhausted. Dumping her bag on the floor next to the door, she dragged herself over to Haruhi and Tamaki. "Hey guys." She was too out of it to notice the bright blush that adorned both hosts cheeks.

"Hi Kaoru." They responded in unison.

The doors opened again and this time Hikaru, Kyouya and Mori carrying Honey on his shoulders came in. Hikaru spotted Kaoru over near haruhi and Tamaki and immediately ran over to them, Kyouya glanced in their direction but headed to the back of the room to set up his laptop and Mori took Honey off of his shoulders and set him down on the ground gently, before going to the storage closet to put his bag away.

"Kaoru, there you are!" Hikaru exclaimed, stopping next to Kaoru. He blatantly ignored Tamaki and Haruhi, but they were actually both relieved.

The younger twin looked at Hikaru. "Have you been looking for me?" She asked, slightly surprised at the urgency in Hikaru's tone.

"Of course!" Hikaru came back. "I can't get past your fangirls though, so it's really hard to see you!"

Kaoru sighed. "I only just managed to peel myself away from them." Stepping forward Kaoru wrapped her arms around Hikaru in a soft hug. "I miss you, Hika."

Hikaru wound his arms around Kaoru in return. "I miss you too." He whispered, burying his face into her shoulder.

"Hehehehe, looks like you two are still getting along famously." A dark, dare it be said slightly creepy voice said, one that did not belong to any of the hosts.

Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki, Haruhi, Honey, Mori and Kyouya all turned to see a figure emerge from the shadowy doorway the lead into the Black Magic club room, that for some reason was only there half of the time, who was clad in long black robe, his bangs hanging over his eyes just visible under the hood, with one hand covered by his trademark cat hand-puppet Beelzenef.

As per usual, Tamaki jumped up from his seat in fright and started backing away. "NEKOZAWA!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

**Translations: **

**Beau clair de lune **= Beautiful moonlight

**Mon amour, mon suel, ma belle lune** = My love, my only, my beautiful moon

**Je T'aime **= I love you

I'm sure that this chapter has raised a few eyebrows and a few questions xD I want to assure you all, I have not forgotten about Hikaru and Kaoru, far from it actually! The reasons for this chapter are as follows:

I felt this story was overdue for some fluff

I thought it would be a nice break from Hikaru and Kaoru, just for a chapter

And I thought I owed it to all of you after all of the angst I've created xD

Oh yes, and to answer this question if anybody is wondering about it, the song in this chapter? Yeah, I wrote it myself. Hence the crappiness of it xD It was inspired after I half-watched the movie 'Box of Moonlight'. The movie was downloaded (ooooh, how bad are we?) and ironically the copy we had had French subtitles hard-coded into it, so we could see everything they were saying in French, which reminded me of Tamaki. It's not a romance movie though. I think I'll name the song Beau Clair de Lune (Beautiful Moonlight).

**Tamaki:** I love you, Haruhi!  
**Haruhi:** I love you too.  
**Hikaru:** What about Kaoru and I!  
**Kaoru:** Yeah, what about us?  
**Me:** I'll get back to you guys don't worry. For now, be happy for Tamaki and Haruhi!  
**Hikaru and Kaoru:** No.  
**Me:** Sigh.


	16. An Occult Classic

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 16 – An Occult Classic**

"Nekozawa!" Tamaki yelped, flinging himself away from the creepy cloaked boy.

Hikaru and Kaoru let go of each other and turned to the leader of the Black Magic club. "What do you mean by '_still_' getting along famously? Should we be fighting or something?" They asked in unison.

Nekozawa chuckled. "Since Kaoru's change, I mean. I wondered if you two would still be inseparable."

Kyouya stood up from his laptop and walked over to where the other hosts crowded near Nekozawa were. "I have this feeling, Nekozawa-senpai, that you know more than you're letting on," he commented as he came to a stop next to Tamaki, who immediately clung to his shoulder in fright.

"You do sound pretty knowledgeable for someone who could have only heard about Kaoru's situation from the rumours," Haruhi concurred from her place on the loveseat.

"I may or may not know a considerable amount to do with Kaoru's situation," Nekozawa replied, turning Beelzenef around and holding him up to his ear. "What's that Beelzenef? You think our plan worked?"

"Plan?" The twins squawked together. Nekozawa always had some sort of trouble up his sleeve, and here he was making off-the-cuff remarks about plans. What exactly was he up to this time…

"Why yes, our plan. Kaoru-san should thank us," the cloaked boy answered in his trademark spooky voice, as he took a few steps towards the younger twin.

Kaoru's eyes widened and she took a step back. "What should I thank you for?" She snapped, confused by Nekozawa's words. So far as she knew, she hadn't even seen the guy for the past few weeks; although she was sure he had probably been lurking in the shadows somewhere out of sight.

Nekozawa paused. "Do you remember that day where you were extremely thirsty and drank ten cups of tea in one hosting session?"

Kaoru froze. Her mind went back to that day, which she admittedly thought was quite strange. She had been fine the majority of the day, but after Hosting activities began she acquired a thirst that she just could not quench no matter how much she drank. Indeed if she had to estimate she would have to say that she did consume at least ten cups of tea in those two hours. Even stranger was the fact that despite how much she had drunk in such a short amount of time, she never felt the need to go to the toilet. Not until the next morning did she get the urge to relieve herself - the morning she had woken up to find out about her problem. Just what. Had. Nekozawa. Done. "What did you do, Nekozawa?"

Hikaru looked back and forth between his sister and Nekozawa. "What is it, Kaoru? What is he talking about?"

Kaoru didn't respond, instead she kept her eyes on Nekozawa, who chuckled, "I do apologise for that. Gender-swapping potions tend to dehydrate the body – Reiko and I have been working on that but we can't seem get rid of it. That is, however, the only side-effect of them, it could be – hehe – much, much worse."

"Wait, WHAT?" Kaoru yelped.

"We slipped it into your first cup of tea, you see. Luckily we managed to work out which one of you was which," Nekozawa glanced at Hikaru, "we thought you would appreciate it."

"WHAT?" All the hosts cried at the same time, goggling disbelievingly at the cloaked boy.

"YOU DID THIS?" Kaoru and Hikaru shrieked, Kaoru pointing to her crotch.

"What on earth could have possessed you to spike my drinks with a GENDER-SWAPPING POTION?" Kaoru demanded.

"Well, Beelzenef and I have been observing you two for quite some time now. We saw how you interacted, and we noticed the youngest Hitachiin brother was so effeminate that indeed, it seemed more appropriate that he should be, well, a _she_."

"So you gave me a potion and turned me into a girl without my knowledge or permission?" Kaoru countered instantly. She had this deep foreboding feeling that somehow this was karma from all the pranks she and Hikaru had pulled coming back to bite them on the bum. It didn't mean it was fair though, she hadn't had any say in this at all and _she _was the one who had gone through all the suffering!

Nekozawa grinned. "Fate is strange. Often what we are destined to be isn't what we start off as. You know far better than I do how you feel about what has happened, have I really done wrong?"

Kaoru's face turned blank. For what it was worth, being a girl wasn't as bad as it appeared. Sure, she had to bleed for a week every month and she had to put up with Tamaki – kamai-sama help her – but she got to wear pretty things in her hair, and she became closer to Haruhi, she had an attractive body, now she could wear all those cute dresses she had secretly fantasized about wearing, and she could let her hair grow out like she had secretly always wanted to - but hadn't since she had to stay identical to Hikaru. She could wear make-up and not be called gay by homophobic pricks; she could wear sexy lingerie, she could have _sex _with a _guy_ and it wouldn't hurt, although why that thought popped into her head she wasn't sure. She could give birth, she could have children, she could be a mother. Maybe, just maybe, Kaoru wanted to be a girl all along.

Hikaru stepped forward. "What are you talking about Nekozawa?" Hikaru pointed to Kaoru. "Kaoru is a _boy _and is destined to be so."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Nekozawa returned, smirking knowingly.

Suddenly, Tamaki was away from Kyouya and approaching Nekozawa. What the cloaked boy had said had caught his interest. "Ne, Nekozawa-senpai, could you give that potion to Haruhi, to make her more feminine?"

"WHAT?" Haruhi screeched, jumping up from her seat on the loveseat.

"Well he turned Kaoru into a girl, maybe he can turn you into a girl as well!" Tamaki explained using his nonsensical logic.

"I AM A GIRL!" Haruhi barked, throwing her hands up into the air.

"It wouldn't work the way you want it to anyway," Nekozawa cut in, preventing Tamaki from responding to Haruhi's outburst, "The gender-swapping potion works in the opposite way for each gender. If a male drinks it, he turns female, if a female drinks it she turns male. Of course I could still give it to her if you're… interested in _that _sort of thing."

Tamaki's face broke into a scarlet blush. "No, that's fine," he squeaked.

Haruhi sighed, "and to think I confessed my love to _you _of all people not thirty minutes ago." There was a pause where the whole room went silent and it took a few seconds, but then what Haruhi had actually said hit her. "Oh, crap."

"You did WHAT?" Hikaru, Kaoru and Honey all burst out at the same time.

"Well, _that_ didn't stay secret for very long," Tamaki muttered, running a hand through his blond waves.

"I think we've lost sight of the real issue here," Kyouya inputted, taking the newfound attention off the host king and apparently his new queen. The vice president was not surprised about what had just been divulged, he could tell by the expressions on the two hosts faces as he walked in what had just occurred. He believed Kaoru's predicament to be more important at present, "which is Kaoru's situation."

"Can the gender-swapping potion be reversed?" Honey asked curiously, placing Usa-chan on his shoulders.

Nekozawa nodded. "It can be, but once a person has taken the gender-swapping potion and had it reversed, the effects of it will never work again on that person should they desire to swap back again."

"So if I had it reversed and I went back to being a boy, it wouldn't work again and I would have to stay that way?" Kaoru inquired to get things straight.

"Correct," Nekozawa concurred, "You only get one shot. So my advice to you is to think things over and make the decision wisely."

"There's no decision to make!" Hikaru snapped, stomping up to the leader of the Black Magic club. "Kaoru is a boy, and a boy _he _shall stay!" All this gender-swap had caused was confusion and conflict for and between both of the twins. Hikaru was sure that if Kaoru was turned back onto a boy, all these strange feelings he had would disappear, and the two of them would be able to go back to normal. If only Nekozawa hadn't done this in the first place then he wouldn't have had to waste all this time brooding over feelings that may have never came into fruition if they were just left alone.

"Wait, Hikaru."

Kaoru's voice rang out clear and strong across the third music room, and all the hosts turned to look at her at once. She seemed to be deep in contemplation but she had sounded firm. She didn't want to make this decision rashly; if she did there was no going back. And even though what Hikaru was saying was true, she was technically a boy, she didn't know if she really wanted to go back to it. She was curious about this gender and she didn't want to rush things. It was hard to explain, but she really did think that being female could be the right choice for her.

'What am I waiting for?" Hikaru asked. "Take the potion and be my brother again!"

Kaoru turned her head and looked at Hikaru. "No."

"What do you mean _no_? You can't – you can't want to stay a girl!" Hikaru exclaimed incredulously. This couldn't be happening, he _needed_ to get rid of these feelings, and Kaoru couldn't actually _like _being a girl! What was the world coming to?

Kaoru bit her lip. "I need to think this over. Please, just trust me on this one Hika."

Hikaru watched Kaoru. The expression on her face was resolute. Kaoru was serious, and if she really wanted this there was no way Hikaru could impose on her happiness. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and nodded. "Okay."

"What's this? The creepy Nekozawa has drugged one of the Hitachiin twins? It's so suspenseful I could eat three bowls of rice!" An all too obnoxious voice proclaimed as Renge's platform emerged from the music room's floor.

"Not now, Renge," Kaoru hissed warningly as the girl hopped down from her platform.

"This is going in my doujinshi!" Renge announced, giggling like the insane fangirl she was.

Kaoru turned back to Hikaru. "I want to go home, I need some space."

Hikaru walked over to Kaoru and grabbed her hand. "I want to go home too."

"Well if you two are leaving I suppose hosting activities are cancelled for the day," Kyouya said, pulling out his black notebook from nowhere, flipping it open and scribbling something down into it.

Tamaki snapped back into 'king mode' and turned to Mori. "Mori, can you go hang the 'cancelled activities' sign up on the door." He then turned to Haruhi who was still looking annoyed. "Would you like a ride home, mon amour?"

Haruhi sighed, "you know what, for once I'm going to save myself some trouble and just accept your offer."

Tamaki's face broke out into a smile. "Splendid!" With that he bent down and scooped Haruhi up bridal style, and started walking to the doors of the music room with her.

"TAMAKI-SENPAI PUT ME DOWN!" Haruhi yelled, hitting Tamaki on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay!" Tamaki answered, putting her back on her feet gently. "But please, just call me Tamaki from now on."

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Let's just go."

"Whatever you say, mon amour."

Kaoru watched amusedly as Tamaki and Haruhi left the clubroom together. She wondered if she could ever be like that with Hikaru. She could dream.

Hikaru squeezed her hand. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Kaoru turned to Hikaru and smiled. "Yeah."

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

Aha, there is finally some method to my madness! Yes, we now know how Kaoru got in this situation in the first place, took me long enough to get here, but I did! A few people asked me at the beginning if there was going to be any explanation for how Kaoru swapped genders, so I hope this satisfies your curiosity.

**Nekozawa:** Hmm, using me as a plot device. Reiko's specialty is potions, she must have been the one to create it…  
**Me:** Could you make me a love potion?  
**Nekozawa:** I could, but whom would it be for?  
**Me:** Well, I need some way to get Kaoru to pay attention to me.  
**Kaoru:** Hey, I've already been drugged enough thank you very much!  
**Me:** Then will you be my boyfriend without a love potion? *Flutters eyelashes at Kaoru wannabe-seductively*  
**Kaoru:** No.  
**Me:** How much Nekozawa?  
**Nekozawa:** Eight-hundred-and-thirty yen.  
**Kaoru:** Dammit.


	17. Confessions of a Teenage Identical Twin

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 17 – Confessions of a Teenage Identical Twin**

Hikaru watched Kaoru as she stared out the window, seemingly not really seeing anything that was flashing passed as she and Hikaru sat in the limo on the way home. She was quiet in her contemplative state, almost as if she was in her own little world. Normally Hikaru could sit in silence with Kaoru and feel completely comfortable – often nothing needed to be said between them; but now he could not stand it. The tension felt so thick it was liable to be possible to cut with a knife. Maybe it wasn't this way for Kaoru, but it certainly felt that way to Hikaru. There was nothing more that Hikaru wanted to do at that moment than to reach over and smash his lips to Kaoru's, and the tight space of the limo wasn't making it easy for him. He was using every bit of his self-restraint to keep from doing anything, he had even sat as far away from Kaoru as he possibly could – they were on opposite ends of the seat, both right up against the windows. Everything that had happened was just interference to his agenda, or so Hikaru thought. He just wanted to tell her, at the moment he was literally on the edge of his seat.

"Hikaru," Kaoru spoke up for the first time since they had left the third music room, startling Hikaru out of his trance and making him embarrassed as he had been staring at Kaoru this whole time without realizing it, "Do you think I'm a good girl?"

Hikaru blinked. "Well, no. We're little devils, hardly models for good behaviour."

The younger twin chuckled and turned from the window. "I meant do you think I suit being a girl, but what you said is correct."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. What sort of question was that? Kaoru had been a boy for the vast majority of her life, so of course she would be suited to be a boy; but Hikaru couldn't deny, with Kaoru's femininity and sensitivity she really did make a felicitous girl. More to the point, these feelings had not arisen in Hikaru until she had turned – Kaoru was just so cute as a girl. Moreover, for that matter, what was the answer Kaoru wanted to hear? Did she care one way or the other? She had always been defensive about being called a girl, so would she prefer it if Hikaru told her no? Or would she want it to be the other way around?

Kaoru stared at Hikaru and frowned at his silence. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question."

The older twin snapped back to reality once again and shook his head. "No, I just don't know how to respond. I mean, you've always been a boy-"

Hikaru was cut off as the limo pulled to a stop and Kaoru turned away from him to look out the window. "Oh, we're here. Come on, let's go inside."

"Kaoru wai-" But before Hikaru could say or do anything Kaoru had picked up her bag and was already out of the car and walking into the mansion. "But you're a better girl," Hikaru finished with a sigh as he too picked up his bag and followed behind Kaoru.

The trek up to their bedrooms was a long, tedious one. Kaoru was too far ahead for Hikaru to catch up to without running, so he decided to go at his own pace. This in turn gave him more time to think, probably not the thing he wanted to do most in the world right now. As he reached the room he had been using for the last few weeks, he halted and stared at the door. He did not like this room. It felt cold, lonely, and bare. He wanted to go back to _his _room with Kaoru; he wanted to be in the warmth of company instead of by himself, he wanted to feel homely again instead of uncomfortable, he wanted the feel of somebody near him instead of being alone, he wanted to sleep in _his _bed, with Kaoru's bed right next to it. He did not want to be separated from Kaoru any longer.

This whole thing was stupid, he couldn't stay like this forever. It was either separate himself completely from Kaoru, which would be very difficult since they lived in the same house and had the same friends, or tell her the truth. Mori had told him that he had to explain himself, otherwise nothing would change, and he was right. It didn't mean that it wasn't nerve-wracking just thinking about it, but Hikaru was finally ready. Before Kaoru made her decision, before anybody else could interfere, he had to let her know that he loved her, and that he would still love her no matter what she chose. They were identical twins, they had a bond that would never be broken.

As Kaoru flopped herself down on her bed, she couldn't help thinking that this room had become oddly eerie and quiet since Hikaru had started staying in the room next door. She did not like it, it made her feel lonesome and alienated. She did not want to feel like a recluse any more, but without the presence of another being in the room it was beginning to seem like she would end up that way. In the back of her mind she knew that normal people had rooms by themselves and liked it that way, but she and Hikaru had always liked to keep as close as possible. They were the reverse of normal in that sense, where others would prefer to have space they wanted always to be together.

It was a shock when the bedroom door flew open and Hikaru came in, throwing his bag next to his bed and then sitting down on it. Kaoru sat up and stared wordlessly at Hikaru who folded his arms in his lap and looked up at her, appearing to be wrestling with his emotions. "We need to talk," he apprised, looking dead serious.

Kaoru nodded. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

There was a pause as Hikaru organised his thoughts. "I'm coming back into the room," he said, not taking his eyes off Kaoru.

"Fine," Kaoru responded, "I never wanted you to leave."

Hikaru didn't reply to that remark. He wanted to keep going, he started, so he would see this through. "There's more…"

This caught Kaoru's attention. "What else do you want to tell me?" Was it going to be something about the gender-swapping potion? He wasn't responsible for this was he? Kaoru had seen that sidelong glance Nekozawa had shot Hikaru while he was explaining things. However, Hikaru could not have been part of it, he was a good actor, but he was not _that _good.

How should I start? Hikaru wondered at he took in Kaoru's concerned expression. Kami-sama only knew what was going through Kaoru's mind right now. There would be no more interruptions now, he had to do this while he had the opportunity, put it off any longer and then it might never be said. "Since you became a girl, I started getting these feelings which I just haven't been able to shake."

Okay, so Kaoru was way off on the Nekozawa thing.

"I tried to ignore them, but there were times when I slipped," Hikaru continued, "Like that kiss-"

"About the kiss," Kaoru cut in, "It got me thinking." She did not know what Hikaru was about to say, but she wanted to get this out. Mentioning the kiss just reminded her of all the confusing feelings she had battled with about it. Hikaru hadn't mentioned the kiss before now, so maybe he had come to terms with it himself. Still, Kaoru felt like she owed it to Hikaru to tell him the truth. While they were both here, in the same room, talking to each other she might as well spill the beans. She might be hated because of it, but she couldn't help the way she felt. As Honey had said, she had to tell him. "I like you, Hikaru."

Hikaru cocked his head to the side. "I should hope so, I am your identical twin."

Kaoru slapped a hand to her forehead. "_Not _like _that_!"

"Then like wha-" Hikaru cut himself off. She couldn't mean she_ like _liked him! No, because that would mean that she confessed to him before he confessed to her, and that was _not _the way he had planned it in his head. This could not be happening; she had beat him to the punch!

"God you can be dense," Kaoru laughed, causing Hikaru to blush in embarrassment, "I understand if you are disgusted," Kaoru added, "I know how wrong this is, but I can't help it."

Hikaru stood up from his bed and walked over to Kaoru's, who was now looking down into her lap. "Kaoru, look at me." Kaoru looked up at Hikaru's standing form, which presently took a seat beside her. "I'm not disgusted. What _you_ told _me _is what _I_ was trying to tell _you _before you cut me off! I lik- actually no, I _love _you too Kaoru." Hikaru's already blushing face darkened even more. He had never confessed to a girl before, let alone his own sister.

Kaoru's eyebrows almost flew off her forehead she was so surprised. "Wait, _you _like _me_?" She yelped, gaping at Hikaru in shock, "But I thought you hated me!"

Hikaru shot Kaoru a lopsided smile, which Kaoru couldn't help but think was adorable. "I never hated you, I just didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't think you'd accept it, so rather than admitting it to you sooner I tried to separate myself from you for awhile in the hope that my feelings would just disappear." Hikaru laughed half-heartedly. "Yeah, didn't work."

"So all that time you were avoiding me, you were doing it because you were afraid you'd do something like… kiss me, again?" Kaoru asked disbelievingly. "Hikaru Hitachiin, I know you can be stupid but I didn't think you were _this _stupid!" She laughed.

"Hey!" Hikaru huffed, "No making fun of your twin!"

Kaoru's trilling laughter subsided to be replaced a warm smile. "Don't ever leave for a stupid reason like that _ever _again!"

"I promise I'll never leave for _any _reason ever again, because nothing could possibly take me away from you now,' Hikaru returned, smiling just as happily back at Kaoru. Hearing her laughter and seeing her smile was so rejuvenating, it made all the worries and weight lift off his shoulders. So this is what requited love was, he liked it. "Kaoru, can I kiss you?"

"Don't ask!" Kaoru snapped playfully, before leaping forward into Hikaru's arms and pressing her lips to his softly.

When their lips touched a million different sensations and emotions were evoked, happiness and nervousness being the most prominent. The kiss was slow and warm, something that neither brother nor sister wanted to rush. Hikaru wrapped his arms around Kaoru's body gently, and pulled her closer to him while Kaoru reached her hands up and entangled them tenderly in his auburn locks. The older twin leaned back slowly until his back was to the bed, and Kaoru was above him; the kiss was never broken, until Hikaru rolled over onto his side and vicariously flipped Kaoru over with him, who broke away and gasped in surprise before beginning to giggle.

Hikaru reached a hand up to brush some of Kaoru's fringe out of her eyes. "You're so beautiful, you do know that right?"

"If I am, then so are you," Kaoru replied cheekily.

Hikaru's only response was to lean in for another kiss, this time an almost feather light peck on the lips, then on the neck, although the latter lingered for a few seconds longer than the former. "I love you, Kaoru."

"Heehee," Kaoru giggled again from the ticklish kisses Hikaru started planting all over her neck, "I love you more."

"No you don't," Hikaru protested.

"Yes I do," Kaoru insisted.

"I love you more."

"No, I love you more."

"I loved you more first."

"But I still love you more."

"You know what," Hikaru started, pulling back from Kaoru's neck and revealing his cheshire grin, "We're identical in almost every way, why don't we just say our love for each other is identical too?"

Kaoru's response was a smirk. "No, I love you more."

"Shut up," Hikaru laughed, preventing Kaoru from speaking again by covering her lips with his. Kaoru immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders and closed her eyes. Hikaru felt tingly inside, he suspected that this would be one of the moments in his life that he would remember for the rest of his existence, and Kaoru thought this too.

In fact, the younger twin was so relieved at the information that hikaru was not upset at her, that it was just the opposite. Never had she been more anxious in her life than when Hikaru had removed himself from her side for no apparent reason, but now she had him back she didn't plan on letting him go again any time soon. Of course, she still had a lot to think about and a lot on her mind, but for now she was perfectly happy just laying here in Hikaru's arms.

Hikaru didn't want this to end. It felt too surreal to him. He didn't care if one of the maids walked in, or if the host club kicked them out, or even if they were disowned by their parents; all that mattered at this moment was that he had Kaoru, the girl he had been fantasising about for so long, and he was going to make her his forever. If heaven existed, it must have come very close to being in Kaoru's arms. Kaoru was definitely his soulmate.

Oh, and he knew he loved Kaoru more, just FYI.

* * *

_**To Be Continued… **_

Hello everybody! Yay for fluff, especially Hitachiincest fluff! xD I hope you all liked chapter 17, took me long enough to write it out, but I think it turned out okay in the end.

I think you'll find it interesting to note that the other day when I was in literature, I was using my friends laptop and she had this love calculator up on it from her chemistry lesson (I don't know exactly what they were doing with a love calculator, I don't do chemistry) and of course we started stuffing around with it which lead to us laughing our asses off. Anyways, I typed in Hikaru and Kaoru's names, and they were a 97.6% match! xD Goes to show how perfect they are! I also typed in Tamaki and Haruhi's names in, and they were a 100% match! Bisco knew what she was doing! Haha

And just to make everybody jealous, I also typed my own name in with both the twins'…

With Hikaru I am a 97.6% match (I'm just as good as Kaoru xD)

But with Kaoru… I AM A 100% MATCH! THAT'S RIGHT, I AM A BETTER MATCH FOT KAORU THAN HIKARU IS, EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO AND SQUEAL LIKE A LUNATIC - AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

**Hikaru: **Rub it in, why don't ya?  
**Me: **I'm a 100% match with Kaoru, your argument is invalid.  
**Hikaru: **But I'm the one who has him/her, and you don't. So in fact, it is _your _argument that is invalid.**  
Me: **Yeah, but Kaoru would be happier with me.  
**Hikaru: **Oh, no you did not.  
**Me: **Oh yes I did.  
**Hikaru: **It is on, bitch!  
**Me: **Bring it!  
**Kaoru: **Now, now guys, there's enough of me to go around!  
**Hikaru: **Like hell there is.  
**Kaoru: **Don't be a jealous idiot.  
**Hikaru: **Don't be so sexy.  
**Kaoru: ***rolls eyes* You're both just as bad as each other.  
**Me: **Surprisingly I am okay with that.


	18. Hallelujah

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 18 – Hallelujah**

**A/N: It is recommended that you listen to the song Hallelujah while reading this chapter. Preferably the cover by Rufus Wainwright, since that is a piano cover and that is what I envisioned to be playing. **

Tamaki sat down at the piano. There were many places the blonde loved to be, but at the piano was his favourite place. It reminded him of when he used to play for his mother at her bedside. It reminded him of when he played at the Ootori residence, and the first time he had ever seen Kyouya cry. It reminded him of Haruhi's expression when she heard her song in the music room. It reminded Tamaki of love.

A sweet smile graced his face as he placed his fingers on the keys and started playing. It wasn't the first time he had played, and it wasn't the last, but it was very special; every time he played was. He played soft and steady, filling the room with a melody of sadness and passion. It was one of his favourite songs. The words started to flow from his mouth, almost angelically:

I've heard there was a secret chord  
That David played, and it pleased the Lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you?

At the doorway, Haruhi stood with her eyes closed, absorbing the emotion emanating from Tamaki as he played his music. She chuckled in irony as the baffled king sang the next part of the verse.

It goes like this  
The fourth, the fifth  
The minor fall, the major lift  
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Both hosts sang the coda tenderly as one watched the other, and the other lost himself in the magic of the song and the night.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

* * *

Hikaru turned on the radio that sat on he and Kaoru's desk. At times like this when he was this happiest he liked to have music playing. He flicked through stations; he stopped when the door of the en suite bathroom opened to reveal Kaoru, a light blush adorning her cheeks as she stood before him completely naked. One arm was stretched behind her back, the hand grasping her other arm lightly in nervousness. The lights in the room had been turned off, but the curtains of the windows remained pulled back; Kaoru's white porcelain figure was bathed in the silvery light of the moon.

Hikaru gulped. He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked, completely natural and real like this. She looked almost too perfect, like a doll. The song lyrics that began to flow from the station Hikaru had left on parodied his exact thoughts.

Your faith was strong but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

Hikaru snapped himself out of his awe-induced state and left the radio. Kaoru bowed her head shyly as Hikaru approached her. She had never done this before, but she trusted Hikaru more than she trusted anyone else. If there was anybody she could lose herself to, she would pick Hikaru a thousand times over.

When Hikaru closed the distance between them, he raised a hand and put it to Kaoru's chin, tilting it up so that the Kaoru's topaz eyes were looking at him. There was a few seconds pause where Hikaru just stood there, staring into Kaoru's eyes completely mesmerised by moment. Hikaru leaned forward slowly, closing his eyes and capturing Kaoru's lips in a soft, melting kiss.

She tied you  
To a kitchen chair  
She broke your throne, she cut your hair  
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Kaoru let go of her arm and moved her hands forward, reaching for Hikaru's pants. She shakily started playing with the buttons, but one of Hikaru's hands stopped her. His hands were also shaking – he was just as nervous as she was.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

"I'll do it," Hikaru's voice whispered against her lips.

Kaoru swallowed and retracted her hands, letting Hikaru take over. A few moments later and the jeans Hikaru had changed into after they had gotten home fell to the ground.

Maybe I've been here before  
I know this room, I've walked this floor  
I used to live alone before I knew you

Hikaru pulled his face away from Kaoru's, took her hand and lead her to her bed. Kaoru sat down on the sheeted mattress and looked up at Hikaru, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Do…do you have protection?"

Hikaru paused, then looked over at the nightstand next to the bed. A time ago now Hikaru and Kaoru had bought a pack of condoms in a fit of silliness; Hikaru was pretty sure they never threw them out, and if they were there then they were in that nightstand. "Yeah, I do."

I've seen your flag on the marble arch  
love is not a victory march  
Its a cold and its a broken hallelujah

There was a cessation as Hikaru went into the bathroom to prepare, coming out a few minutes later ready to make the next step. They were really going to do this; they were really going to give everything to each other. They were really going to break the last standing barrier between them. It was ironically bittersweet as it was romantic. Hikaru smiled.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Kaoru looked up again at Hikaru as he once again approached. They had reached the point of no return. Their love for one another was the only thing they could hold onto now, for at a time like this nothing else existed. It was all raw, unadulterated emotion.

Kaoru's eyes locked on Hikaru's, and the younger twin let herself be laid down on her back as Hikaru leaned gently over her. When her head was on the pillow, Hikaru shifted his weight onto his elbows and bent his head down, kissing Kaoru tenderly. He held her like she was the most precious entity in the world, and he was afraid that the slightest bit of roughing would break her fragile perfection - and if Kaoru had of heard Hikaru's thoughts, she would have known that to him, this was true.

There was a time you'd let me know  
What's real and going on below  
But now you never show it to me do you?

The music from the radio streamed softly through the room. It gave the scene an almost magically sad atmosphere. Kaoru closed her eyes as Hikaru planted sweet, lingering kisses on her lips, her cheeks, her neck, her shoulders. A warmth she had never felt before rose in her stomach; it was not the heat of passion though, it was the kind of warmth one experienced when they were completely content, the kind of warmth that made you inexplicably happy, giddy, gave you butterflies. It was the simple warmth of affection.

Hikaru lifted his head and looked at Kaoru one last time. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked sincerely, concern and apprehension painted all over his face.

Kaoru lifted a hand to cup Hikaru's face; she absently started stroking Hikaru's cheek with her thumb. That fear in Hikaru's eyes, strange as it may have been that was what told Kaoru she could do this. He cared, he cared so much that he would drop everything if she gave the word. That was devotion in its purest form. Kaoru's response was a calm nod. She was certain.

And remember when I moved in you?  
The holy dark was moving too  
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

With Kaoru's final assurance Hikaru proceeded. He was gradual and gentle. Very soon Kaoru was filled with Hikaru in every possible way. However it wasn't a grand feeling at all. A surge of pain shot through her despite Hikaru's attempt to be careful. The younger twin squeezed her eyes shut. Kaoru had heard that the first time, it hurt even for girls. It was symbolic really. Love is just as painful as it is pleasurable. The pain was not off-putting, it made things real. This was not a dream.

Hikaru immediately halted. "Are you okay?" He asked, worried.

"I'm great." Kaoru opened her eyes and smiled, a single tear rolled down her cheek. "How are you?"

Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hikaru couldn't help it, he kissed Kaoru again. The younger twin relished in the feel of Hikaru's lips meshing with her own. She would endure this for him; it was a small price to pay for such a paragon.

Maybe there's a God above  
And all I ever learned from love  
was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you

A tear to join Kaoru's fell out of Hikaru's eye. He had pictured his first experience numerous times but never had he expected that it would be this intense. The dedication he felt to Kaoru was overwhelming. He didn't want to hurt her in any way and yet to break the last wall he had to. A cruel paradox it was; but in all truth, that was quintessentially love.

He continued, starting from where he had temporarily left off. Slow and steady, as painlessly as he could.

Hikaru would be the first and last person to break this wall. He was certain.

It's not a cry you can hear at night  
It's not somebody who's seen the light  
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Kaoru gapsed. The pain didn't fade, but the pleasure was gradually kicking in. For every bad there was good. She knew given time it would not hurt at all, when that time came they would be completely united.

"I love you," Hikaru breathed, burying his head into Kaoru's shoulder.

"I love you too," Kaoru responded, just as she arched he back pressing herself against the fabric of Hikaru's still shirted chest in what was the first surge of pure pleasure she had felt so far.

In the background, the song on the radio was coming to an end.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah

The two lovers whispered the last line of the song together in perfect unison.

Hallelujah.

* * *

_**To Be Continued…**_

My god, I'm sorry for updating late guys. I've been a bit slack this week and this chapter took me forever to write up. In my defence I wanted this particular chapter to be perfect.

I recommended Rufus Wainwrights cover (also known as the version from Shrek) because it is a piano version and from the way the chapter starts off with Tamaki playing it on the piano, that is how I imagined it to follow the whole chapter through, just through the radio when it swaps over to the twins.

On that note I also love Jeff Buckley's version as well. That one is a guitar cover though.

Anyway, this is my way of giving you guys a lemon scene without actually giving you 'smut'. I didn't want to have to change the rating of this story so far in, so instead of going with the traditional smutty, animalistic sex scene that is usually thrown in (and I'll admit, there's nothing wrong with a good smutty animalistic sex scene) I decided to do this in a different way. Obviously this is mostly innuendo (NOT 'in your endo' for you perverts (and yes I realise I'm a pervert myself for thinking of it first)) I did not actually go into detail about anything, I only insinuated what they were doing; but mostly, this chapter is intended to be pure romance; a culmination of the twins love for each other. I wonder if that came through…


	19. Pretty Girl

**Pretty Boy**

**Chapter 19 – Pretty Girl**

Kaoru's eyes fluttered open to be greeted with the golden rays of morning sunshine streaming through the bedroom windows. Blinking blearily to wake herself up, she sat up, turned to her left and looked down. The smile that took over her face was one of complete happiness. Next to her, half covered by blankets, mouth slightly open and breathing gently was Hikaru – fast asleep. Kaoru wondered if hikaru knew how cute he looked when he was sleeping. Feeling anew, Kaoru slipped out of bed, her feet landed on the tiled floor softly. Standing up she padded over to a window and pulled it open. The fresh air hit her like an explosion of freshness - it smelled of flowers, just finished blooming, and somehow of the sea as well. The soft sound of birds chirping could be heard in the distance; even the colour of the cars driving up and down the street below seemed brighter as Kaoru looked out with glee.

Turning away from the window, Kaoru looked down at herself; she had somehow ended up wearing Hikaru's t-shirt last night. Pulling the bottom of the top up to her face, she took a deep breathe: it smelled almost exactly of her, but with a slightly muskier after tone – Hikaru.

Giggling giddily, Kaoru tiptoed over to the bedside table and picked up her phone. Just as she was about to start scrolling through her contacts, Hikaru stirred in bed and sat up, rubbing his eyes groggily. Kaoru turned to Hikaru and smiled again. "Good morning."

Hikaru looked up and grinned. "Good morning, kindred spirit."

Kaoru rolled her eyes and turned back to her phone, finding the contact she was looking for and pressing call. Hikaru watched on. He was fairly sure he knew what Kaoru was doing; they could always tell what each other was thinking after all. "What, no good morning kiss?" He teased as he threw the covers off himself and stood up, walking around behind Kaoru, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Shut up," Kaoru laughed, putting the phone to her ear so she could hear the ringing on the other end of the line and turning her head to the side to give Hikaru a kiss on the cheek.

The ringing on the other end of the line came to an abrupt halt and a threatening voice answered dangerously. "It's seven-thirty in the morning. This. Better. Be. Good."

Kaoru was unperturbed by this response, she had actually been expecting it. Hikaru immediately recognised the voice and buried his face in Kaoru's shoulder to muffle his snickering. Kaoru ignored him and spoke into the phone. "Kyouya, I need you to get something delivered to me - stat."

"Have you seen the twins?" Haruhi asked Tamaki as he walked into the third music room, going over to the cupboard to put his bag away.

"No, lovely - I'm afraid I haven't seen the twins all day," Tamaki replied absently. When his bag was stashed away properly he closed the cupboard and walked back over to Haruhi, bending down to give her a peck on the lips. "Why?"

Haruhi smirked. "No reason, you'll just be surprised, that's all."

"Oh?" Tamaki smiled.

"Yes, Kaoru woke me up this morning with an "urgent" phone call. Luckily she wasn't directly in front of me, I wouldn't have spared mercy on her otherwise," Kyouya commented, walking up to the duo.

"Mummy!" Tamaki exclaimed, engulfing Kyouya in a bear hug. "Where did you come from?"

"I've been sitting next to the piano the whole time, you're very unperceptive Tamaki," Kyouya murmured, pushing Tamaki off him and causing the blond to pout childishly.

"I'm not unperceptive, I was just focusing on Haruhi because she started talking to me as soon as I walked in," Tamaki huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Think whatever you like," Kyouya remarked facetiously, opening his black notebook.

The music rooms doors flew open and Honey bounded in, clutching Usa-chan to his chest with Mori trailing silently behind him as per usual. "Have you seen Kao-chan? She looks so funny!" The little blond giggled, running up to Tamaki, Haruhi and Kyouya.

"We were just talking about it, Tamaki hasn't seen her yet," Haruhi apprised.

The hosts started talking amongst themselves as they began to prepare for the afternoons business. It had been a clear day, and now the afternoon sunlight was streaming through the windows, bathing the music room in an aureate hue. The grand piano gleamed happily in the corner, the love seats sat welcomingly around the room; the coffee tables stood prettily displaying their various coloured roses which were perched in vases atop them, the chandeliers hung merrily from the ceiling and the tea sets smiled warmly in the serene preparation.

For any outsider it would seem like an ordinary day for the hosts, and for all intents and purposes it was. The only thing different was the awaited arrival of the last two host club members. A peaceful atmosphere fell over the room as everyone attended to their pre-club activity duties. It felt like the room couldn't get much brighter, in feeling or in appearance when the music room's doors opened again - but there was no denying that when the twins stepped in, the whole room lit up.

Tamaki turned away from the roses he was fussing over to see who had entered his domain (yes, the music room was his domain), spotted the twins and duly let his jaw drop to the floor. Now he knew what everybody had been talking about. He didn't know whether he would agree with Honey though, Kaoru didn't look funny per se, more like just different to the norm. It wasn't a bad different either, it was quite flattering, almost as if Kaoru was meant to look that way. Tamaki's brain quickly told him he better pick his jaw back up before Haruhi spotted him, now that he had a lover it wasn't very appropriate for him to be goggling at other girls. Still, he understood what all the hubbub was about now.

"Keep your eyes on your own girl, boss," Hikaru snapped as he and Kaoru walked up to the other hosts.

Tamaki's face broke into a blush, "Shush Hikaru, I was _not_ looking at Kaoru!" He quickly turned to Haruhi. "I wasn't looking at Kaoru, I swear!"

Haruhi shook her head and brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Relax, senpai, I'm not going to bite your head off."

"That's not the reaction you're supposed to have!" The blonde shouted, clutching at his gold locks with his hands. "And I told you already, call me Tamaki!" He whined, slumping into a chair that was next to him. He just couldn't win with these people!

In the meantime Kaoru ignored the kafuffle with her brother and Tamaki and walked over to Kyouya, who looked up from his notebook and gave her one of his 'you better watch yourself' smiles. "Hello Kaoru, I see you got your delivery. I hope it is to your satisfaction."

Kaoru smiled, a genuine one unlike Kyouya's, and nodded. "I wanted to thank you. I'm sorry for waking you up this morning, but you're the most reliable person I know and the only one who could organise something to get to me so quickly and with so little notice." Kaoru's tone was happy and sincere. She had been in the best mood today, and she had not only Hikaru but also Kyouya to thank for it.

"You're very welcome," Kyouya replied, manoeuvring his notebook to free a hand and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It suits you."

Kaoru grinned and twirled on the spot. "I know."

Mori and Honey looked on as Kyouya and Kaoru talked, a smile spreading across both their faces. They were happy for the twins; they both had a new glow about them that signified things had finally been resolved. The two oldest hosts were glad they could help them.

Mori turned and looked down at Honey. "Mitsukuni, do you think everything will go back to normal now?"

Honey smiled. "Of course not, Takashi! Things are much different now than they were before, what's normal now wasn't what was normal at the beginning. Plus, when have things ever been normal in the host club anyway?"

Mori chuckled. "Right."

"I think that everybody is happy again now though, and that makes me happy," Honey grinned and jumped up into Mori's arms who caught him easily and held him up. "We should have cake to celebrate!"

The sound of dark cackling suddenly filled the room, followed by a cloaked figure whose left hand was covered by a cat hand-puppet and a face that was adorned with a creepy grin. "I hate to break up the festivities, but I have business I need to attend to," Nekozawa apprised, appearing to glide over to the hosts.

"Nekozawa, you don't waste any time, do you?" Hikaru remarked, raising an eyebrow at the Black Magic club president.

"Time is of the essence," Nekozawa replied smoothly. He turned to Kaoru, who had looked away from Kyouya to focus on him. "It looks like you know what you want, but just to be safe - Have you made your decision yet?"

Kaoru glanced around at her friends; they all smiled at her warmly. She knew that no matter what she chose they would accept her, and that was a great comfort. There was still just one person who she had to make sure was okay with this; after all, his opinion was the one she valued the most out of anybody else's. If he was unhappy with her choice then she would not be able to live with herself. It was kind of silly in a way how she couldn't be independent and make her own choices without his blessing, but she took solace in the fact that it was the same for him. There had been a time when she wished she could separate herself from him and be her own person, and she did still want to do that, but now she wanted to be her own person with him still always by her side. She was happiest when they were as close as possible; they really were two halves of a whole.

"I need to talk to Hikaru first," Kaoru said.

Nekozawa nodded. "Very well."

Hikaru blinked as Kaoru took him by the hand and tugged him gently towards the doors of the third music room. He followed silently as Kaoru pulled him along, only pausing to open the doors and then shut them when they were outside the room and out of earshot of the others. Hikaru kept a poker face as Kaoru let go of his hand and looked down at the ground. "You okay, Kao?" He asked, confused about what she had to say to him.

"I know what I want," Kaoru began, keeping her head down, "but I need to know if you're okay with it too. If you're not, then I won't do it."

Hikaru cocked his head to the side. "What have you decided?"

Kaoru fidgeted for a moment trying to build up the confidence to say what she wanted to say, and then began. "I've thought about it, even though it was only for a night, but that was enough for me. I came to realise how much more sense this makes, ironically you were the first one to point it out even if you were teasing me. I should have listened though, because all taunting aside, you were right. I fit better as I am now than I ever did before." Kaoru took a deep breathe. "Hikaru, I want to stay a girl."

Hikaru chuckled and put a finger under Kaoru's chin to tilt her head back up to face him. When she looked up their amber eyes locked and Hikaru smiled. "I kind of already knew that Kaoru, it isn't that hard to tell." His expression softened. "And that's okay. I'll still love you. I'll still accept you no matter what you do or who you become, because we're twins and that's something special that no one can ever take away from us." He leaned down to kiss Kaoru softly, their lips meshing together gently reassured Kaoru that Hikaru was true. After a few seconds he pulled back. "I love you, _sis_."

Kaoru's face broke into a blush. "I love you too."

Hikaru grinned. "Come on, let's go tell the rest of them the verdict!" He took Kaoru's hand, squeezed it in his and opened the doors. Honey looked up from the table he was sitting at over the cake he had started on. Mori also looked up from his position next to Honey. Haruhi and Kyouya turned around, ceasing their conversation and Tamaki and Nekozawa also turned to the twins expectantly, breaking up the conversation they were having – not something you saw every day.

"I'm ready to tell you my decision now," Kaoru said as she and Hikaru closed the distance between themselves, the rest of the hosts and Nekozawa.

"Well then, let's hear it," Nekozawa urged eagerly, hunching over slightly more than usual in anticipation.

Hikaru squeezed Kaoru's hand again for reassurance. Kaoru smiled and squeezed back before replying. "I've decided I don't want to take the gender-swapping potion again. I want to stay as a girl."

"Is that so?" Nekozawa inquired in a rhetorical tone. "Then I guess I am no longer needed here. Enjoy your new gender, Kaoru-san." With that Nekozawa shot the hosts one last grin, before turning around and gliding over to the door of the back magic club room, presumably to cook up more trouble.

Kaoru barely had time to think before she was glomped by a ball of blonde enthusiasm. "Oh Kaoru, you make such an adorable girl! I'm so glad you decided to stay this way!" Tamaki exclaimed, happy tears welling up in his eyes. "Now I have two precious daughters!"

"I'M NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!" Haruhi and Kaoru barked in unison, Kaoru trying and failing to peel the host king off of her.

"Tono, get off Kaoru before I am forced to use this on you," Hikaru said warningly, brandishing a baseball bat dangerously in his hands which he appeared to have pulled out of nowhere.

Tamaki let go of Kaoru and zapped over to his corner of woe. "Why does daddy get disrespected so?" He sobbed quietly, poking at a mushroom in front of him. Haruhi sighed and rolled her eyes, going over to Tamaki to deal with him. He could be such a big baby sometimes.

Meanwhile, Kyouya walked up to the twins. Hikaru put the bat away discretely as the shadow king approached them. "I had a feeling this would happen," Kyouya commented in his business-like tone, so I came up with a new gimmick for you. It's a combination of the 'Brother and Sisterly Love' and the novelty of you two now being one of each sex. I think it will be quite profitable."

"You're always on the ball, Kyouya," Kaoru laughed.

"I am," Kyouya agreed, "all you have to do is hang this banner over the loveseat you usually occupy." Kyouya handed Kaoru a silk banner, half pink and half blue. "You better start getting ready, hosting activities start in a few minutes," the ebony-haired boy informed turning and walking away leaving the twins to their own device.

"Well," Hikaru began, "Looks like it's back to the normal routine."

"Maybe or maybe it's the start of a whole new routine," Kaoru pointed out, walking over to the loveseat she and Hikaru usually used. "Hikaru, can you help me hang this up?"

Hikaru nodded and the twins went to work. The hosts all went around finishing last minute preparations for hosting, before Kyouya announced that business was scheduled to start and asked Mori to open the doors. Soon enough the girls were shuffling in to see their respective hosts, all equally giddy at the prospect of seeing their favourite boys. Well, all except the girls who were going to see the twins. When they walked over to the Hitachiin's they were faced with an oddity. Not that it was a bad one, though.

"Welcome Ladies!" The twins chanted happily as the girls approached.

Instead of the usual male twin little devils that occupied the loveseat, there was something a bit different. Sitting next to each other were still Hikaru and Kaoru, Hikaru wearing the standard Ouran boys uniform, with his periwinkle blue blazer and black slacks, and Kaoru, well she was wearing the girls uniform: the canary yellow ankle length dress which puffed out at the shoulders, completed by a red ribbon tied in a neat bow at her neck. Kaoru's hair was also not gelled up today; instead it fell around her face framing it nicely. She had been dressed like this all day, her first day as a true girl. Kyouya had gotten a girl's uniform delivered to her in the morning, thanks to his out-of-this-world organisation skills. Hence the other hosts reactions earlier. So in essence, one male Hitachiin and one female Hitachiin sat in front of the girls.

The grins one the twins faces were ones that could not be contained. They were back to what they did best, same sex or no. From across the room Honey and Mori smiled once more. Tamaki and Haruhi shared inconspicuous glances at one another, both silently agreeing that things were peaceful once more (well, as peaceful as things could get in the Host Club); and Kyouya stood in the middle of the room, smirking to himself as he thought about the steady profit the club was sure to make today.

To finish off the scene, the silk banner hung above the twins head sporting the following message in intricate lettering for all to see:

**The Hitachiin Pretty Boys  
_Now Available in Both Genders_**

* * *

**The End**

But not really! Don't worry guys, there is going to be an epilogue coming, and that will be the real ending. So for those who are freaking out do not despair! One more chapter is still scheduled to come out.

For those who have followed the story up until this point, I would like to say thank you so much! I'm really honoured that so many of you have been enjoying this story! I really have been having fun writing it, and it makes it even better when you guys give me such awesome feedback!

Kaoru: I love you, Hikaru.  
Hikaru: I love you too Kaoru.  
Hikaru and Kaoru: We love all of you guys!  
Kaoru: Us girls gotta stick together!  
Hikaru: The title of this chapter reminds me on the song 'Pretty Girl Rock' xD  
Kaoru: Don't hate me cause I'm beautiful!  
Hikaru: Do the pretty girl rock!

Amber***


	20. Ten Years Later

**Pretty Boy**

**Epilogue**

**Ten Years later**

It was a summer day. A light breeze tussled Kaoru's shoulder length hair which was now styled into a bob-cut as she stood on the veranda, staring out at the expansive gardens which extended out behind the large manor she stood out back of. The afternoon sun hung lazily in the air, casting it's bright light over yard. Kaoru stood under a maple tree, her pale skin patterned with shadowed stars from the leaves that created a sunblock. Her white sundress ruffled out behind her, the air cooling her exposed legs and bare feet.

Suddenly, the sound of two sets of little feet broke the peaceful silence. The sliding door was pushed open and two little girls ran out from the house. Kaoru turned around just in time for her legs to be snapped up by the two red heads.

"Mama," The one with her hair parted on the left spoke, "can we go and play in the gardens?"

"Please, mama?" The one with her hair parted on the right asked hopefully.

"Pretty please with a strawberry on top?" They both asked in unison in their babyish voices, their pigtails bobbing up and down as they fidgeted in anticipation.

Kaoru smiled down at the two of them, each one of them gripping her shins tightly. Their cherubic faces watched her expectantly for an answer, hoping that she might let them have their fun. She couldn't say no to those expressions. "Okay, but only if you stay where I can see you," Kaoru answered, laughing as the two three year olds cheered in rejoice and then waddled past her into the gardens as fast as their little legs would take them.

Kaoru watched on happily as they started playing hide and seek amongst the hedges and bushes, both of them giggling hysterically as if it was the most entertaining game in the world. What Kaoru would give to be able to go back to the time when things were so simplistic, being able to see it in front of her right now though was just as rewarding. She absently fiddled with the white-gold diamond-embedded ring on the ring finger of her right hand. Suddenly, she was aware of a pair of strong arms winding their way around her waist, and a chin resting itself on her shoulder. "They're frisky little ones for three year olds, aren't they?" a warm, masculine voice whispered into her ear.

Kaoru suppressed the shiver of delight that ran through her body at the sound of the familiar voice and chuckled. "Yes they are. I wonder how two little devils managed to create two little angels."

Hikaru smiled. "Doesn't make much sense, does it?"

Kaoru turned around and Hikaru tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her forwards to his chest. Kaoru smiled and wrapped her arms around Hikaru's neck, leaning forward and capturing his lips in a loving, lingering kiss. "Welcome home," Kaoru said breathlessly as they pulled apart. "Did we get the designs in to mum on time?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, in fact we were ahead of schedule, Mum said that the tailors would get started on the basic under layers of the designs for us by next week, so we can do the rest then." He looked past Kaoru into the gardens. "How have the girls been?"

"We're all very relaxed," Kaoru replied, "we just finished lunch and now we're having some outside time."

"Mmm, I see," Hikaru smiled.

"Papa!" twin voices rang out, as the girls caught sight of the older twin and made a dash towards him, big smiles on their faces.

Hikaru squatted down so he was level with them as they approached them and engulfed them in a big hug when they were within distance. The girls giggled and Hikaru chuckled with them. "How are my little Hanako and Kumiko doing?"

The girl with her hair parted on the left pointed at the girl with her hair parted on the right. "Kumiko found a ladybug today!"

"Did she now?" Hikaru asked, pretending to be impressed.

"Hanako was scared of it though!" Kumiko snickered, side-glancing her sister.

Hanako huffed and crossed her arms. "I was not!"

"Were too!" Kumiko retaliated.

Hikaru laughed and slid his arms under the girls bottoms, standing and lifting them up with him. "Well just to be safe, why don't we go take a bath to wash off the yucky bug juice?" he asked, turning around with the girls in his arms.

"Okay, but only if Hanako admits she was scared of the ladybug!" Kumiko insisted.

"No!" Hanako rebutted as Hikaru walked into the house and took them to have their bath. They were definitely Hitachiin's, that's for sure.

Kaoru followed behind, leaving the back gardens to their serene stillness. She broke away from Hikaru's tail after a few minutes and instead went upstairs to Hikaru's and her shared bedroom. It was large and had good lighting. The walls were painted an off-white, and the bedcovers were a pretty baby blue colour. Walking over to the Oakwood desk that sat adjacent to the bed, Kaoru sat down and opened a drawer, pulling out a little black book which she had bought and kept since her graduation from high school. She had christened it as her 'chronicle of poetry'. Pulling out a pen, she opened the book and set to work on adding yet another poem to her collection.

It's such a perfect day  
Not remarkable or noteworthy  
It is ordinary perfection  
Made of love and sunshine  
And the sound of children's laughter  
The gentle breeze  
Soft kisses  
This is perfection  
I'm glad I could share it with you

~Fin~

* * *

And so we come to the end of this tale. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who has read, reviewed, commented, favourite and/or watched this story. I couldn't have done it without all your kind words and enthusiasm – I had as much fun writing this as you did reading it. I hope that this ending lived up to everybody's expectations.

On that note, I'd like to tell you all about another story I am thinking of starting since this project is now complete. I don't know if I'll be starting it straight away though but I have been thinking about it for a while. It is entitled _**Operation H.O.S.T**__ (__**H**__omicide __**O**__bjective __**S**__eventy __**T**__wo)_. So keep a look out for that.

For now, until we meet again – adieu!

Amber***

Hikaru: What are you still here for? That's all folks!

Kaoru: Hikaru! Don't listen to him. Thanks for reading guys, may we meet again soon! 3


End file.
